Suzhou speeds up building an international tourist destination with Jiangnan water town characteristics

China News Service, Suzhou, September 29th (Reporter Chang Mucheng) Suzhou City's promotion meeting to accelerate the creation of an international tourist destination with Jiangnan water town characteristics was held on the morning of the 29th at the Suzhou Jinji Lake International Conference Center. More than 500 guests gathered at the Jinji Lake to discuss the plan to build Suzhou as an international tourist destination and paint a new picture of "Paradise on Earth, the Most Beautiful Jiangnan".

"'See you in Suzhou, and you will be surrounded by the river.' This is the Suzhou described by poets more than a thousand years ago. It is also the most unique and irreplaceable 'Jiangnan water town logo' of Suzhou." Wang Wei, senior vice president of Ctrip Group, said that all parties gathered here to discuss accelerating the creation of an international tourist destination with Jiangnan water town characteristics, in order to make this thousand-year-old charm of living by the river be seen, understood, visited and cherished by more international tourists with the help of digital platforms.

Jiangnan is a fertile ground for Chinese films, and its water towns nourish the creative inspiration of filmmakers. Gao Shan, member of the Party Committee of China Film Group Corporation and director and deputy general manager of China Film Industry Group Co., Ltd., said that China Film Group is willing to work with Suzhou to build film and television IP scenes, create AI cultural tourism experiences, and cultivate industrial ecology, so as to promote the concentration of elements of the entire industry chain in Suzhou and make the "light and shadow economy" a new growth pole in the construction of international tourist destinations.

Wang Jiao, deputy general manager of China Tourism Group Travel Service Co., Ltd., said that he will give full play to the advantages of the "national team", full-chain advantages, and globalization of central enterprises, and use the central-local linkage as a link to deeply participate in the development of Suzhou's inbound tourism and work together to create a benchmark for the opening up of cultural tourism in the Yangtze River Delta.

In recent years, Suzhou has focused on cultivating the cultural tourism industry into a strategic pillar industry, continuously polishing the cultural tourism brand of "Paradise on Earth, the Most Beautiful Jiangnan", and building a comprehensive and interconnected cultural tourism policy system to empower industrial upgrading. The Yangtze River Delta Culture and Technology Integrated Development Fund and the Shanhua Industry Development Fund have been established locally, and Suzhou cultural and tourism consumption coupons have been continuously issued to nourish industrial development with financial water. Through the coordinated efforts of policy, finance, and talents, multiple measures will be taken to promote the high-quality development of the cultural tourism industry.

The meeting also released the 2026 Suzhou inbound tourism special scenes, announced the winning works of the 2026 Suzhou World Cultural and Creative Competition, and a number of key projects completed on-site signing and centralized display.