15 Beibu Gulf city cluster members reach cooperation in tourism

Fifteen cities and counties of Guangdong province, Hainan province and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region agreed to cooperate in tourism and jointly develop the Beibu Gulf tourism brand at a seminar held in Liuzhou, Guangxi, from June 22 to 23.

The participants included Guangxi's Nanning, Beihai, Qinzhou, Fangchenggang, Yulin, and Chongzuo; Guangdong's Zhanjiang, Maoming, and Yangjiang; and Hainan's Haikou, Danzhou, Dongfang, Chengmai county, Lingao county and Changjiang county.

They will create a group of characteristic tourism products and routes, jointly conduct publicity and marketing, promote smart tourism, boost talent exchange, and strengthen market order management. They also agreed to carry out cooperation in tourism investment and sponsor each other as tourist destinations and sources at the same time.

Earlier, on May 9, the governments of Hainan, Guangdong and Guangxi reached an agreement in Haikou prioritizing cooperation modes for promoting the development planning of the Beibu Gulf city cluster from 2018 to 2019.

The State Council approved the Beibu Gulf City Cluster Development Planning on Jan 20 last year. Since then, the three regions have formed a cooperative mechanism encompassing various levels of decision-making, coordination and execution. To implement the development planning, high-level government officials held face-to-face meetings every year and discussed important cooperation projects and other matters.

The planning period of the national-level Beibu Gulf city cluster is from 2017 to 2020 and an outlook until 2030 was prepared. The proposed land area is 116,600 sq km and the coastline is to reach 4,234 km.

The city cluster is adjacent to Hong Kong, Macao and Southeast Asia. It is on the southernmost point of China's urbanization strategic pattern and has consequent importance in opening-up and cooperation with ASEAN. Therefore, on the basis of geographic advantages and regional characteristics, the general orientation is a livable blue-bay city cluster appropriate for developing industries looking towards ASEAN members and serving all of Southwest, South Central and South China.