The 8th Dunhuang Silk Road International Tourism Festival started off in Jiyauguan city, in the North Western province of Gansu in China last month. The month long festival kicked off at the historic Jiyauguan Pass, the westernmost end of the Great Wall of China and an important stop on the ancient Silk Road.
The theme of the festival this year is, “A Symphony Along the Silk Road, a Great Tour Across Gansu” signifying innovation, coordination, green, open and inclusive development. Kyrgyzstan was the festival’s ‘Guest State of Honour” this year.
The tourism festival is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and seeks to develop tourism co-operation among countries, provinces and cities along the ancient Silk Road, and is a showcase window for both its domestic offerings as well as other countries along the Silk Road.
Besides, putting the spotlight on the various provincial Silk Road sites and tourism attractions all along Gansu and boosting its destination profile in the outbound travel market, the festival, as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, also promotes peaceful co-operation, opening-up and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefits along the ancient Silk Road by forging closer tourism ties.
Presiding over the inaugural ceremony, Song Liang, Member of the Standing Committee of Gansu Provincial CPC Committee and Executive Vice Governor of Gansu Province, informed that the event was attended by over 2600 guests and spectators from 52 countries and regions representing tourism representative of some 20 Chinese cities and provinces and countries on the Silk Road, investors, domestic and international tour operators from across Asia and Europe, members of press,
UNWTO’s Director of Communication Marcelo Rios, said, “Not only has this festival raised the profile of this whole province as an important Silk Road destination, it is a display of history and modernity, the display of China and its important place in the world. This route also presents some of the best tourism resources and tourism potential in the world,” he added.
China is a key part of UNWTO’s Silk Road tourism initiative and has made great contribution to the route’s transformation into an internationally known tourism brand.” Furthermore he also pointed that President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, which is destined to become world’s largest platform of economic co-operation, has decisively strengthened the Silk Road strategy.”
PATA Foundation Chairman Peter Albert Semone, while sharing his insight on the development of ancient Silk route and travel and trade that took place along this route, said, “Today, the Silk Road – much like tourism – is about connecting cultures and communities, enriching economies and improving the standard of living of people. I have no doubt that tourism along the Silk Road will play an integral role in establishing peace, harmony and understanding among peoples from diverse backgrounds, cultures and religions.”
The event was also addressed by Lin Duo, Secretary of the Gansu Provincial Party Committee and Director of the Standing Committee of the Provincial People’s Congress; Tang Renjian, Deputy Secretary of the Gansu Provincial Party Committee and Governor of Gansu Province; Du Jiang, Head of Party Group of the Ministry of Culture & Tourism and Abdumazhit Insurov, Special Representative of the Government of Kyrgyzstan and Chairman of the Tourism Committee of the National Parliament.
Dignitaries in the audience also included Massimo D’Alema, the former Prime Minister of Italy; Du Jiang, member of the Party Group of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China; Liu Shijun, Secretary-General of the World Tourism Alliance; Pooya Mahmoudian, Vice President of Iran Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts, Tourism Organization; Selim Belortaja, Ambassador of Albania to China; Anwar Alabdulla, Ambassador of Bahrain to China; Rudy Kiryl, Ambassador of Belarus to China; Anton Rill, Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to China; Faisal Mohamed, Ambassador of the Maldives to China, among others.
The Dunhuang festival is co-sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China and the People’s Government of Gansu Province. The event was supported by UNWTO, PATA and World Tourism Alliance.
