Anchoring High-Quality Development, Accelerating the Construction of a World-Class Tourism Destination

On October 28, a press conference on Zhangjiajie's tourism development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025) was held in Changsha. During the period, Zhangjiajie City has anchored the blueprint of "Three Hubs and Four New Missions," accelerating the construction of a world-class tourism destination, and has gained global popularity. In 2024, the city's total tourist arrivals and tourism revenue increased by 88.62% and 104.35%, respectively, compared to 2020. Inbound tourism has seen explosive growth, with inbound tourist trips reaching 1,830,600 in 2024, 59 times that of 2020, with tourists coming from 183 countries and regions.

During the period, Zhangjiajie has been committed to building a benchmark city for inbound tourism, achieving a quality upgrade from "a secret realm of peak forests" to "a world stage." The city's culture has become more prominent, with the super IP "If one hasn't visited Zhangjiajie in life, how can centenarians be truly called elderly?" gaining deep recognition in East Asian cultural circles, and Tujia brocade cultural creative products being exported to over 30 countries. Tourism products have become more entertaining, with extreme sports such as Tianmen Mountain wingsuit flying, Qixing Mountain's "Sky Ladder," and the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon's high-altitude bungee jumping attracting global enthusiasts, while the international street dance festival and trail running events have become platforms for exchange among Chinese and foreign youth. Entry procedures have become more convenient, with Zhangjiajie Port approved for transit visa exemptions, 19 international flight routes opened, and direct high-speed rail to Hong Kong, reducing customs clearance time to within 15 minutes. Services have become more heartwarming, with the innovative launch of the "Exchange Wallet" service for inbound tourism, foreign card payment coverage expanded to over 2,000 merchants, and 1,187 interpreters speaking various foreign languages providing professional services, resolving problems for overseas tourists.

Relying on tourism development, Zhangjiajie has achieved coordinated progress in industry, ecology, and people's livelihoods. Over the five years, Zhangjiajie's "122" modern industrial system has been rapidly established, attracting Fortune 500 companies such as Nongfu Spring, with the industrial sector's contribution to GDP steadily increasing, the number of high-tech enterprises doubling, and the deep processing of berry tea joining the ranks of provincial-level specialty industrial clusters for small and medium-sized enterprises. Ecological protection has been continuously strengthened, completing afforestation of 1,767,000 mu (117,800 hectares), raising forest coverage to 64.3%, and maintaining an excellent air quality rate stably above 93%. The proportion of surface water quality at or above Class II has remained at 100%, ranking second nationwide in the 2024 for water quality at national monitoring sections. Livelihood-related expenditures have accounted for over 70% of fiscal spending, with urban and rural residents' incomes in 2024 increasing by 27.9% compared to 2020, and an average annual increase of over 10,000 jobs in urban employment and rural labor transfer, allowing the public to share in the dividends of tourism development.

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn