BEIJING, April 2 (Xinhua) -- After attending the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) in March, Wu Guoping, a national lawmaker and head of a culture and tourism company based in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, wasted no time diving back into two of his new tourism projects.

The projects, set respectively on an island in the eastern Shandong Province and near the Sanxingdui Museum in the southwestern Sichuan Province, offer distinct cultural experiences to visitors, as one highlights fantasy-themed traditional elements, and the other focuses on bringing the ancient Shu civilization to life with immersive and interactive features, according to Wu.

"Tourism professionals have encountered unprecedented opportunities while also shouldering real responsibilities, and we should deliver effective results through concrete actions," he said.

Wu was referring to a key concept featured in China's latest development blueprint.

The outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), approved by China's top legislature in March, calls for further efforts to shape tourism through culture and highlight culture through tourism, and to build China into a leading country in tourism. This marked the first time the objective was written into a national five-year plan.

It also stresses enriching the supply of high-quality tourism products, tapping deeply into distinctive resources and cultural connotations, and actively promoting the integrated development of multiple business formats.

The move came amid robust growth in the country's tourism sector. According to the government work report approved at the NPC annual session, domestic tourist trips in the country increased by 16.2 percent in 2025, with inbound tourist trips up by 17.1 percent, illustrating the vitality of the tourism sector.

A recent blue book by the China Tourism Academy estimated that domestic tourist trips would further grow by 6 percent in 2026, bringing the total to nearly 7 billion.

Experts believe that the momentum is largely driven by the evolving integration of culture and tourism, the significance of which has been lifted to a new level.

"From a national strategic perspective, the integration of culture and tourism is no longer merely a sectoral task, but a strategic arrangement bearing on overall economic and social development," said Peng Zhubin, a distinguished professor at South China Business College at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.

He believes that only through the full integration of cultural resources, cultural creativity and cultural values can the goal of building a leading country in tourism be truly supported.

Wu Guoping's new projects are already putting this vision into practice. The Shandong project, for instance, is located on an island off Yantai city and features an immersive commercial district inspired by the Taoist legend of the Eight Immortals, alongside a core area where architecture, performances and technology combine to create a fully immersive, fantasy world for visitors.

Slated to open to the public in July, the project aligns with a 2023 plan by Shandong Province to implement more than 300 major culture and tourism projects by 2027, with total investment exceeding 500 billion yuan (about 72.59 billion U.S. dollars).

Speaking of the national objective, Wu said he believes it is not merely about leading in scale, but about achieving an organic unity of tourist satisfaction, public benefit, industrial strength and cultural prominence.

In Dunhuang in northwest China's Gansu Province, meanwhile, the millennia-old Silk Road culture was brought to life during the traditional Lantern Festival in March, as classic elements such as the flying horse, flying apsaras and the nine-colored deer shimmered in the sky through dynamic lighting effects, leaving visitors from across the country in awe.

"We tried to deepen the integration of culture and tourism to present visitors with a cultural feast rich in cultural essence, technological appeal and immersive experiences," said Wang Jingwei, a general manager in charge of the Shazhou Night Market scenic area under Dunhuang Cultural Tourism Group.

His remarks were echoed in a recently published green book titled "Tourism Development in China: Analysis and Forecast (2025-2026)" compiled by the Tourism Research Center at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

According to the green book, the integration of culture and tourism carries a "dual historic mission," one of which is leveraging industrial coupling effects to promote the creative transformation of cultural resources and foster new drivers of economic growth.

Wu agrees with the assessment, noting that tourism professionals should refine service details with meticulous, embroidery-like precision, forge product quality with a spirit of craftsmanship, and unleash industry vitality through innovation in that regard.