Wearing VR glasses, visitors can immerse themselves in an exploration of the origins of Beijing's central axis and the Chinese wisdom behind it, guided by the roof-ridge beast "Xiaolongzai". In front of the screen of a portable AIGC photography device, tourists can integrate their facial features into a scenario story template to generate their own story poster. In a holographic projection interactive box that fits in the palm of your hand, visitors can see three-dimensional digital humans introducing museum exhibits... During the 2024 Smart Tourism Demonstration Exhibition recently held, 48 smart tourism projects were showcased, demonstrating the achievements of China's smart tourism development.

This summer, the domestic game "Black Myth: Wu Kong" has driven a surge in popularity for scenic spots in Shanxi Province, China. "We will strive to showcase the culture within these scenic spots through various forms, introduce digital exhibitions, 3D printing, and other methods to create smart tourism projects, and convert online traffic into on-site visits," said Chen Shaoqing, first-class inspector of the Shanxi Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism.

The exhibition has sent a strong signal: China's smart tourism has entered an accelerated development stage, with its level of intelligence continuously rising.

According to the "2024 Smart Tourism Atlas Research Report" released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), the overall scale of China's smart tourism economy has grown from 432.9 billion yuan in 2019 to 1,038.2 billion yuan in 2023, marking a 1.4-fold increase over five years. It is projected that in 2024, the overall scale of China's smart tourism economy will reach 1,250 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year growth of around 20%.

"The integration of digital technology and the tourism industry in China is becoming increasingly deep, and smart tourism has begun to deliver results in providing intelligent and networked services for tourists," said Wang Xiaoli, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of the CAICT. In the future, the innovative integration of technologies such as artificial intelligence with tourism scenarios will continue to deepen, expanding the development space of China's tourism ecosystem.

China is vigorously promoting the development of smart tourism nationwide. Multiple departments have issued the "Action Plan for Innovative Development of Smart Tourism"; the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments have announced 30 pilot projects for "5G + Smart Tourism" applications and launched 42 pilot projects for fostering new immersive smart tourism experiences. To date, China has established nearly 30 comprehensive smart tourism platforms.