Top 10 China tourism stories in 2017

3. Integrated tourism in full swing

President Xi Jinping said that China is moving in the right direction in terms of integrated tourism development and should maintain such development. The government work report delivered in March also proposed to "improve tourism facilities and services and vigorously develop rural tours, leisure tours and integrated tourism".

So far, China has more than 500 model projects for integrated tourism development distributed across 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.

4. Institutional reform in tourism industry kicks off with establishment of 25 provincial commissions on tourism development

Active efforts have been made across China to reform the tourism administration and governance mechanisms in order to adapt to the latest changes in the integrated development and governance of tourism.

On Dec 15, Chongqing established the municipal commission on tourism development. By then, a total of 25 Chinese provinces, regions and municipalities directly under the central government had their own commissions on tourism development. In Jiangxi province, a three-tiered tourism governance system has been established, comprising provincial, municipal and county-level commissions on tourism development.

5. "Tourism +" rises as the new mode for inter-sector development

On May 19, China announced the top 10 bases for technology tourism, part of a tourism industry drive to promote the development of industry specific tourism. Meanwhile, wetland, sports, ice and snow, industrial and forest tourism have all been flourishing along with study tours.