China Tourism Academy Releases 2026 Cultural Tourism Scenario Innovation Report

Key points

• On September 14, the China Tourism Academy released the 'Toward High Quality: 2026 Cultural Tourism Scenario Innovation Development Report' in Cangzhou, Hebei, using Hebei Province as a sample to analyze cultural tourism scenario innovation.
• The report states that national cultural tourism scenarios show trends of spatial patterns moving from single scenic spots to full-area coverage, experience forms from shallow sightseeing to deep immersion, industry forms from isolated advances to business-format integration, and competitive logic from resource endowment to scenario innovation.
• The report identifies real problems including content homogenization, technology showmanship, a lack of composite talent, and slow content renewal.
• Hebei's cultural tourism scenario innovation has shifted from single resource development and traditional scenic spot construction to the comprehensive organization of resources, space, content, business formats, and activities, showing characteristics of resource scenarization, spatial lifestyleization, content experientialization, and business-format integration.
• Hebei's experience includes using scenarios as a policy lever for transformation, activating traditional cultural and sports resources in resource conversion, renovating existing spaces in spatial renewal, and enhancing visitor participation in content production.
• The report recommends that Hebei rely on the 'five belts' spatial carriers and, combined with growing demand for immersive experiences, interactive participation, nighttime consumption, and digital experiences, promote scenarios from single-point breakthroughs to systematic development, from resource supply to experience supply, and from project construction to continuous operation.