Tourism, a ship of world peace and development

Children and their families pose for pictures with strawmen during a tourism festival on May 7 in Shenyang, Liaoning province. [Photo by Wang Huan/China Daily]

We will improve the infrastructure for transportation facilities, scenic spots, self-drive tour camps, and digital installations. We will strengthen market regulation and oversight to offer a richer, more convenient and safer travel experience to both Chinese and foreign tourists. Besides, we will encourage holistic tourism destinations development and the "Tourism Plus" program, and vigorously develop rural tourism, industrial tourism, culture tourism, and seniors and health tourism. Those programs, combined with the "Internet Plus" initiative, are designed to promote the integrated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries through tourism growth. To upgrade tourism will be a good way to improve the economy, both in efficiency and in quality.

? Tourism is a major platform for mass entrepreneurship and innovation. Innovation is the primary source of development. To make the tourism sector stronger, we need to encourage innovation and shift the growth model, which all serve to raise the quality and level of development. China's rich tourism resources, combined with the long industrial chain it entails, offer good opportunities for job creation and business start-up. It naturally attracts people from different fields to join in active innovation programs. In 2015, China's tourism industry directly employed 28 million people, and the total number of jobs created, directly or indirectly, was 80 million. That was roughly 10 percent of the number of all jobs in the country. We will improve policy incentives, build public service platforms, strengthen vocational education and training and provide a better environment for more people to take part in the development of tourist goods and services.

? Tourism is a main avenue for poverty alleviation and eradication. Rural poverty alleviation is probably the biggest task for China if it is to become a moderately prosperous society in all respects. Most poor people in China live in former revolutionary bases, ethnic group-inhabited areas, border areas and poverty-stricken areas, where constraints hold back industrial and agricultural development. These places, however, tend to enjoy unique strengths for developing tourism, and many of them have in fact got rid of poverty as a result of tourism development. Tourism opens a door to the outside world. It broadens people's horizon, improves their mindset, lifts their spirit and contributes to social progress. The government's target is to lift 12 million people out of poverty in the next five years through developing tourism.

? Tourism is a facilitator to building a beautiful China. Tourism is a typically green industry, one that consumes less energy, produces less pollution and makes circular development possible. The Chinese used to take the mountains and rivers they lived by as nothing but a source of food and income. Development activities such as excessive logging and fishing abused the environment and caused ecological degradation. Such a development model is hardly sustainable. In recent years, as tourism becomes a booming industry, people have begun to see green mountains as gold, treasure mountains, and are doing more to protect the environment, because they know that keeping the mountains green means keeping their source of income. This has made development more sustainable. We need to put tourism high on the agenda of ecological conservation. We will champion the vision of green development for the country and the people. As we push forward economic development, we will better protect the environment by putting in place the most stringent environmental protection regime. We will establish the national park system, coordinate the development with the protection of tourist sites, and balance financial returns with ecological benefits of development. We will, by doing so, open up a more coordinated approach of economic development and ecological conservation.

? Tourism is a bridge of friendship linking China with the world. Amity among the people holds the key to state-to-state relations and mutual visits are essential to foster amity among the people. Tourism is the most direct and natural way of people-to-people exchange. It is a window of openness, a bond of friendship and a messenger of peace. The Chinese government highly values the role of tourism in facilitating cultural exchange. We have identified over 150 countries as approved destinations for Chinese tourists, and have held "Year of Tourism" activities with countries like Russia, the ROK, India and the United States. We stand ready to work with more countries to enhance tourism cooperation. Joint tourist activities of diverse forms may be organized for people to take part in, which will sow the seed of friendship among them.