The 2022 China-ASEAN Expo Tourism Exhibition kicked off in Guilin, in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on September 19. Initiated in 2015, the annual event is co-sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China and the government of the autonomous region.

Hu Heping, minister of Culture and Tourism of China; Lan Tianli, governor of the autonomous region; and Zhou Jiabin, Party secretary of Guilin, attended the opening ceremony and delivered their speeches.

As Vietnam is the Guest of Honor for this year's event, Nguyen Ngoc Thien, minister of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Ministry of Vietnam, participated in the opening ceremony and made a speech via live stream.

Beijing-based diplomats representing Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, Laos and the Philippines as well as representatives of the ASEAN- China Center were invited to attend the opening ceremony.

Hu Heping said 2022 is the first year to implement the China-ASEAN Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership which was launched in 2020 and the China-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership established in November 2021.

This year's tourism exhibition, with a theme of "sharing new opportunities of the RCEP and working together for new development in culture and tourism", "will boost exchange and cooperation in the tourism sector among RCEP member states and facilitate the autonomous region's endeavor to turn Guangxi into a global tourist destination and Guilin a global tourist city," added Hu.

Teamed with the tourism departments and organizations of ASEAN countries, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China hopes to "carry out all-round, multi-layer, high-efficiency exchanges and cooperation in culture and tourism via the effective platform of the China-ASEAN Expo Tourism Exhibition, making greater contributions to the construction of a shared future for China and ASEAN countries," Hu concluded.

Lan Tianli said Guangxi is stepping up its efforts to elevate the status of Guilin and Guangxi in the global tourism sector and is looking forward to working closely with ASEAN countries to strengthen cultural heritage safeguarding and transmission and deepening cooperation in travel route design and promotion as well as more extensive investments to enhance integration and development of cultural and tourism sectors.

And to bolster integration and development of health and tourism sectors, Guangxi will work closely with ASEAN countries to foster health tourism projects, share resources and develop products in this field, added Lan.

Guangxi will also seek close cooperation with ASEAN countries "to build the digital tourism industry, integrate online and offline resources, construct platforms of 'virtual tourism' and 'virtual exhibitions' and create a new mode of digital tourism service, thus contributing to the quality development of the tourism industries in China and ASEAN countries," Lan concluded.

This year's event will be held both online and offline, with an on-site exhibition area reaching 25,000 square meters and 7 exhibition halls including a RCEP-themed exhibition hall, a domestic travel exhibition hall, an overseas travel exhibition hall, a travel and consumption hall, and an international tourist commodity hall.

With Vietnam as the Guest of Honor and Gansu the Thematic Province, the three-day event has gathered more than 300 exhibitors and agencies from 50 overseas countries and regions, and 20 domestic provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.