At the 2025 Changchun Conference on High-Quality Development of the Cultural Tourism Industry, a series of impressive data and ambitious plans showcased the vigorous development and broad prospects of the city's cultural tourism sector. Changchun is writing a new chapter of high-quality cultural and tourism development with a vision of pursuing innovation, embracing change, and striving for improvement.

Innovation serves as the driving force behind Changchun's cultural tourism development. The city's rapid progress in this sector stems primarily from a paradigm shift in mindset. In terms of concepts and strategies, Changchun has positioned cultural tourism as a strategic emerging industry, fostering a strong consensus across the city that "promoting cultural tourism is synonymous with boosting the economy, driving development, and benefiting the people". In terms of strategy and implementation, Changchun has established a cross-departmental, cross-regional, and cross-sector collaborative mechanism, promoting resource integration and business model renewal through market-oriented and professional approaches. In products and supply, it continuously innovates its cultural tourism development models, transitioning from "cultural tourism +" to "+ cultural tourism" and from "attraction-based tourism" to "all-for-one tourism", achieving an all-around upgrade in cultural tourism development. New characteristic scenarios, products, and experiences, such as Xinmin Street, Beijing Street West Historical and Cultural Block, themed night tours at Changchun Zoological and Botanical Park, Changchun Air Show, and the "H₂" (Qing Chun Hao) cultural tourism train, have injected new momentum into the city and become new engines for driving cultural tourism consumption.

Transformation is the key to Changchun's cultural tourism development. To excel in the intensely competitive market, continual evolution is not an option, but a necessity. This transformation is first visible in the city's fabric. Changchun has seamlessly woven cultural tourism into its urban renewal initiatives. The comprehensive revitalization of the Yitong River has birthed a new ecological landscape, historic neighborhoods have been rejuvenated, and new landmarks are buzzing with vitality—elevating both the city's visual appeal and its cultural substance. More profoundly, the change lies within its people. Citizens, brimming with a newfound sense of ownership, now take immense pride in their hometown. They warmly welcome visitors from all directions and voluntarily act as ambassadors of the city's image. Meanwhile, cadres at all levels exemplify a results-driven work ethic, serving with dedication and meticulous attention to detail. Their commitment is clear: to trade their own "dedication index" for a higher "visitor delight index" and an elevated "city satisfaction index." This thoroughgoing transformation has shaped Changchun's new image as a "people-friendly, hospitable, and open-minded" city, allowing every visitor to feel the city's heartfelt respect and warmth.

Improvement is the goal pursued by Changchun's cultural tourism development. The rapid growth of the industry has not only brought popularity and economic benefits but also elevated the city's image. Moving from satisfaction to delight, visitors' acclaim extends beyond tourism products and activities to the consistently meticulous and thoughtful services found throughout Changchun. The city's image of being "people-friendly, hospitable, and open-minded" has gained widespread recognition, with its popularity, reputation, and influence continuously rising. Through its efforts in cultural tourism, Changchun has demonstrated to the nation and the world its strong organizational and mobilization capabilities, outstanding urban governance level, and profound cultural soft power, steadily advancing toward its goal of becoming a nationally renowned tourist destination and a regional tourism hub in Northeast Asia.

"Innovation" provides the driving force for development, "transformation" stimulates the vitality of development, and "improvement" defines the development goals. These three pillars are interdependent and dialectically unified, jointly constituting the vivid practice and valuable experience of high-quality development in Changchun's cultural tourism industry. Standing at a new starting point, Changchun is fully committed to becoming a national center for culture and tourism. It will continue to maintain the spirit of "innovation", courage for "transformation", and ambition for "improvement", ride the momentum and persevere in its efforts to establish cultural tourism as a new pillar industry, thereby contributing significantly to achieving notable progress in promoting Changchun's high-quality development and making new breakthroughs in its comprehensive revitalization.

Source: Changchun Government Affairs  Editor: Liu Jiadi