2013 Yangtze River Three Gorges Regional Tourism Cooperation Meeting was held in Yichang, Hubei Province on Tuesday, September 17. Hubei Tourism Administration, which is the rotating presidency of Chongqing and Hubei this year, signed the memorandum of cooperation with its counterpart Chongqing Tourism Administration. Government officials such as Wu Wenxue, Member of the Leading Party Group of the National Tourism Administration, Tan Jialing, Vice Mayor of Chongqing Municipality, Bi Yaxiong, Deputy General Manager of China Three Gorges Group Cooperation, and Gan Rongkun, the Vice Governor of Hubei Province attended the meeting and gave their speeches. Local officials were also present at the meeting for instance, Ma Xuming, Mayor of Yichang City, and Zheng Xinghua, Vice Mayor of Yichang City.

According to the memorandum, Hubei Provincial Government and Chong Municipality Government will fully cooperate to work out the promotion strategy for the travel image of the Three Gorges, launch high-quality tourism products in the area, boost the construction of public reception facility for visitors, strength cooperation in transportation projects, cultivate main market players, and continue to carry out law enforcement activities. To be sure, all this will upgrade the carrying capacity of tourism environment in this area and contribute a lot to the attainment of the honor—the best tourism attraction in China.

With the support of National Tourism Administration, Hubei Provincial Government and Chong Municipality Government vigorously promoted the development and cooperation together in improving the tourism industry within the confines of this area in accordance with the memorandum of the meeting last year. And the number of tourists reached 1.78 million in 2012, of which 492.6 thousand by water, a year-on-year increase of 5.3 percent; the number of visitors total 1.01 million by the end of August this year, amid which 313.6 thousand by water, a year-on-year increase of 12.5 percent.

Be that as it may, the tourism in this area is still faced with the tough situation with numerous problems. However, Qian Yuankun and Liuqi, the heads of Hubei Tourism Administration and Chongqing Tourism Administration respectively, suggest that both sides jointly work out the promotion strategy for the travel image of the Three Gorges, launch high-quality tourism products in the area, advance the construction of the public service system, cultivate main market players, establish the cooperation and self-discipline mechanism in tourism industry and implement universal accepted standards in regional tourism market.

Wu points out that despite not a few difficulties and challenges, we shall make the tourism integrate into other industries, expanding the tourism market in a scientific way, developing tourism products with distinctive features, improving the infrastructure, setting universal standards for the tourism market, and effectively strengthening regional cooperation in the tourism market after hearing debriefing from his subordinates. Only by doing these can we make the regional tourism cooperation between both sides become the model of successful cooperation, and turn the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River into the world-famous travel attraction ahead of time.

And Mrs. Tan thinks that Hubei Provincial Government and Chongqing Municipality Government shall strengthen regional cooperation by dint of the large projects charted by both sides, working in unison to upgrade the carrying capacity of tourism environment in this area and to create a win-win situation in the context of a new era the tourism comes to be a way of life.

Gan also expresses his wish to build the scenic spots in this area into a tourism brand with international reputation, by means of closer cooperation between both sides in terms of infrastructure construction, system and mechanism innovation, market norms standardization, and cooperation mechanism optimization.　

And all attendees of the meeting from both sides agree with the opinion that we shall give priority to cooperation in transportation projects. At present, the highways under construction in this area include Yichang-Badong Highway, Xuan’en-Qianjiang Highway, Lichuan-Wanzhou Highway, and Jianshi-Enshi Highway with a total mileage of 361 kilometers. According to the construction plan, Yichang-Badong Highway will open to traffic by the end of this year, Xuan’en-Qianjiang Highway by 2014, Lichuan-Wanzhou Highway, and Jianshi-Enshi Highway by 2015. Then scenic spots in this area from both sides like Shennong Stream, Sunrise Taoist Temple, Suobuya Stone Forest in Hubei Province, and Daning River, Goddess Peak, White Emperor Town in Chongqing will be joined together by convenient traffic. (Reporter Liu Zirong)