On September 28, Xiaoyi City’s 2026 Cultural Tourism Industry High-Quality Development Conference was held in Xiaoyi, Shanxi. Photo by Gao Yuqing
China News Service, Luliang, September 28 (Gao Yuqing) At the Xiaoyi City 2026 Cultural Tourism Industry High-Quality Development Conference held on the 28th, Shanxi Xiaoyi released the "Xiaoyi City Three-Year Action Plan for China's Top 100 Tourism Counties and Cities (2026-2028)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Action Plan"), clarifying a clear path for the cultural tourism industry to improve and upgrade in the next three years and become one of the top 100 counties in the country.
In recent years, Xiaoyi City has regarded enriching the people with culture and tourism and strengthening the city through industry as the core strategy of "two-wheel drive", deeply cultivating the cultural foundation of filial piety, and creating a characteristic cultural tourism IP of "the city that loves mothers most". By promoting the construction layout of "one city, one river and one lake", we will promote the three major 4A-level scenic spots to jointly create a national 5A-level tourist attraction, and the Caoxi River to strive to become a national-level tourist resort, and continuously improve the development pattern of cultural tourism in the entire region.
Xiaoyi has ranked 7th on the list of China's top 100 counties in terms of comprehensive tourism communication capabilities and tied for 2nd on the top 100 list of growth potential, realizing a butterfly transformation from a traditional resource-based city to a city with both industry, culture and tourism. From just a few businesses in the beginning, nearly 500 cultural and tourism business entities are now flourishing, and the scale of the industry continues to grow.
Since the beginning of this year, Xiaoyi has attracted a total of more than 6.9 million people to check in and experience it, driving cultural and tourism-related consumption such as accommodation and catering to grow by more than 30%, helping nearly 20,000 people find high-quality employment at home, and the effectiveness of cultural tourism in enriching the people continues to be highlighted.
The "Action Plan" released at the meeting clarified the goal of "three-year triple jump and big jump every year": to enter the middle of China's top 100 counties and cities with tourism potential in 2026; to enter the forefront of China's top 100 counties and cities with tourism potential in 2027; to successfully rank among the top 100 counties and cities in China's tourism potential in 2028, with the average annual growth rates of tourism revenue and tourist reception maintaining above 15% and 20% respectively.
At the meeting, well-known cultural and tourism experts such as Wu Pu, Director of the Strategic Research Institute of the China Tourism Academy, were invited to participate in the meeting to provide advice and suggestions on topics such as high-quality development of county-level cultural tourism, cultural tourism brand value creation, and cross-border integration of industries. A Xiaoyi cultural and tourism think tank was established on site, letters of appointment were issued to seven industry experts, and a long-term guidance mechanism for think tank experts and local cultural and tourism entities was established.
In addition, the conference commended representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage, cultural tourism service models, outstanding cultural tourism enterprises and other advanced models, and concentrated on signing a number of emerging cultural tourism projects covering digital imaging, artificial intelligence research, micro-short drama shooting, cultural and creative overseas expansion, etc., injecting new momentum into the high-quality development of Xiaoyi's cultural tourism industry.
Next, Xiaoyi City will focus on the differentiated positioning of the old city, Caoxi River, rural tourism, and Shengxi Lake areas, and deeply explore the four major directions of cultural fireworks, health and wellness vacations, nostalgia experiences, and trendy business formats to create a "multi-stop, multi-day stay" all-region cultural and tourism experience system, deepen the integrated development of "cultural tourism + various industries," and allow more people to rely on the cultural tourism industry to steadily increase their income.
