This year's May 19 marks the 16th China Tourism Day, and preparations for events in Hunan venue are in full swing. Let's get a sneak peek.

The national theme for this year's China Tourism Day is "Enjoy Quality Tourism, Explore Beautiful Landscapes," while the Hunan theme is "Welcome to Charming Hunan." Focusing on key areas such as benefiting the general public, cultural tourism activities, promoting inbound tourism, safety and civility, quality service, and publicity for Hunan, the province has planned a "1+5+N" series of events, comprising 1 main event, 5 major series, and a number of supporting activities.

The launch ceremony will be held at Xizhou Park in Daoxian County. (Photo/Jiang Keqing)

The main event is the launch ceremony for the Hunan venue of China Tourism Day. This ceremony is more than just a simple kickoff event; it will center on the core theme of public welfare. During the event, the province will announce the list of benefit measures for the general public, as well as premium inbound tourism itineraries and preferential policies. Additionally, in collaboration with cultural and tourism enterprises, the event will introduce benefits such as annual travel cards and consumption vouchers.

On the day of the launch ceremony, 12 5A-level scenic spots across the province will simultaneously host joint live-streaming venues. Through cross-screen interaction and real-time connections, a panoramic view of the province's key scenic spots will be presented, creating a brand-new virtual tour experience of Hunan that features "one trip with multiple stops."

As part of the series of events, the Culture and Tourism Public Welfare Month will offer a range of benefits, including free admission to A-level scenic spots, limited-time flash sales of accommodation services for star-rated hotels and boutique homestays, exclusive coupon packages for air travel and car rentals, "performance + ticket" combo packages, exclusive performance coupons, and special discounts for inbound tourists.

The remaining activities cover four major areas: inbound tourism promotion, service quality enhancement, civilized and safe tourism campaigns, and province-wide cultural and tourism promotion. Among these, the inbound tourism promotion initiative will continue to streamline entry procedures and develop a high-quality inbound tourism product system; the service quality enhancement campaign will support the high-quality development of Hunan's tourism industry; the civilized and safe tourism campaign will launch a comprehensive special initiative for risk prevention and control in scenic areas; and the province-wide cultural and tourism promotion campaign will officially unveil multiple premium tourism itineraries.

Additionally, during the campaign month from April 23 to May 31, 13 cities and one autonomous prefecture across the province will launch various distinctive supporting activities with local characteristics. For instance, Xiangtan City will leverage the 2026 China Tourism Commodities Competition and the First Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan Culture and Tourism Shopping Season to simultaneously launch a culinary tourism promotional event, featuring specialty food markets and premium tourism routes. In alignment with the main venue's international promotional positioning, Zhangjiajie will introduce preferential policies targeting inbound tourists, creating an integrated travel experience across the Greater Zhangjiajie International Tourism Area. Leveraging core attractions such as the Xiangxi UNESCO Global Geopark, Fenghuang Ancient Town, and the Aizhai-Shibadong-Dehang Grand Canyon, the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture will host distinctive cultural and tourism activities including intangible cultural heritage performances and ethnic song and dance shows.

This article is from Hunan Provincial Government. www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Xiao Juan

Chinese source: hunantoday