2026 China Culture and Tourism Industry Expo holds press conference in Tianjin
2026-08-20 · Machine translation; headline edited
On August 20, a press conference was held for the 2026 China Culture and Tourism Industry Expo. At the meeting, it was announced that this year’s expo will be held from September 3 to 6 at the Tianjin Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center, under the theme “Deepening the Integration of Culture and Tourism to Smartly Create a Better Life.” The event will showcase new business forms, models, and settings in the cultural and tourism industries, highlighting emerging trends in digital and intelligent cultural and tourism development.
This edition of the expo is hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and co-organized by the Tianjin Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau and Beijing Xinglv International Media Co., Ltd. The China Cultural Tourism Industry Expo was jointly organized by the original "China Tourism Industry Expo" and "China (Wuhan) Cultural Tourism Expo". This is the third edition of the expo and the second to be held in Tianjin.
Based on the strategic positioning of the cultural and tourism industry development during the "15th Five-Year Plan", this expo anchored the core direction of "industry pilot demonstration, enterprise trading platform, urban flow entrance, and people's happy festivals", opened 10 exhibition halls with a total exhibition area of 100000 square meters, and held a “1+18” program of activities at the same time.
The press conference for the 2026 China Culture and Tourism Industry Expo.
The expo highlights five key features: market orientation, smart technology, high quality, internationalization, and audience segmentation. On the marketization front, we plan to establish a B2B supply-and-demand trading platform that facilitates closed-loop matching between enterprises’ supply and demand through “demand posting, case presentations, open negotiations, and project contracting.” In terms of intelligence, a theme exhibition area for new forms of cultural tourism will be set up to display the innovative achievements of AI, VR/AR, 5G, big data and other technologies in cultural tourism scenes. Linkage Tianjin Robot Industry Association to Build "Future Cultural Tourism Experience Hall", hold AI Digital Intelligence Cultural Tourism Industry Innovation and Development Conference on special topics, and organize scenic spots to sign co-construction agreements with technical parties.
On the quality front, plans include hosting a launch event for “New Forces in Culture and Tourism” innovative projects, as well as exchanges on the development of industrial culture and tourism. In terms of internationalization, an exhibition area for international cultural and tourism cooperation will be established, and an International Travel Trade Conference will be held. In terms of segmentation, three major sections have been established: a professional exchange area, a product exhibition and sales area, and a public experience area.
According to the article, at present, 20 countries and regions, 29 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) and a number of units directly under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism have confirmed their participation, gathering 10 international and national industry associations and nearly 2000 cultural and tourism enterprises to participate in the exhibition.
The expo has established a multi-dimensional event framework structured as “1+18.” The opening ceremony will be held on the morning of September 3, inviting more than 500 guests, including relevant industry organizations, representatives of cultural and tourism institutions in China, leading enterprises, experts and scholars, to attend. The 18 professional events cover innovations in destination management, cruise tourism, international travel agencies, investment and financing for cultural and tourism projects, emerging cultural industries, sports and leisure, and micro film festivals.
During the Expo, it will promote the centralized signing of cultural and tourism industry projects, build an integrated online and offline trading and sales system, and serve the coordinated development of cultural and tourism in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. Tianjin also plans to launch more than a hundred distinctive cultural and tourism events, extend the opening hours of key municipal cultural and museum venues, increase the frequency of subway services passing by exhibition halls, and coordinate with the 12345 tourism hotline to handle inquiries.
