The 2025 Guangzhou International Travel Fair has come to a successful close!

2025-05-20

The 33rd Guangzhou International Travel Fair (GITF), which lasted for three days, came to a successful conclusion on May 17th. This global cultural and tourism event, themed "Meaningful Tourism, Lasting Connections", attracted 1,006 tourism agencies from 55 countries and regions to participate, with approximately 36,986 professional visitors and tourists joining in. On the occasion of "China Tourism Day" on May 19th, it delivered a "satisfactory answer sheet" demonstrating the resilience and innovative vitality of the industry.

This exhibition, with the power of the "smart hub", not only injects impetus into the global recovery of culture and tourism, but also forms a deep response with the theme of the Tourism Day, "Splendid Mountains and Rivers, Beautiful Journeys", jointly depicting the future picture of high-quality development of culture and tourism.

01

Global Integration: Weaving New Threads of World Culture and Tourism

As the leading "gravitational field" in the global tourism industry, this year's Guangzhou International Travel Fair has once again achieved remarkable success with an extremely high level of international participation. This exhibition has established a cross-continental platform for cultural and tourism dialogue, attracting over a thousand institutions from 55 countries and regions to participate. The proportion of international exhibitors has exceeded 65%, marking a historic expansion of the "international circle of friends". Overseas exhibitors include Sri Lanka, Germany, Italy, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Qatar, Spain, France, Poland, Cuba, South Korea, Singapore, Nepal, Cambodia, Indonesia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Georgia, Kenya, Oman, Argentina, Peru, Ireland, New Zealand, Turkey, and Brazil. Malaysia, Madagascar, the Amazon, Las Hippocampus, Thailand, Bhutan, Hong Kong, China, Macao, China, PATA (Asia Pacific Travel Association), TPO (Global Urban Tourism Development Organization), etc.

From KANDY, the holy city of Sri Lanka, leading the promotion of the secret realm of Buddhist chanting as a "Starlight Partner", to the emerging immersive experience of Arab culture in Qatar; From Nepal showcasing niche activities to South Korea's all-round promotion of MICE group customization, from the mountain and sea wonders of Russia's Primorsky Krai to Oman's debut in presenting a desert oasis - this international cultural and tourism feast, with Guangzhou as its center, paints a magnificent picture of the integration of world civilizations. GITF not only achieves a qualitative breakthrough from "traffic aggregation" to "value creation", but also demonstrates the connecting power of the intelligent hub, fully leveraging Guangzhou's resource advantages to create a quantifiable new model of win-win development for all parties.

02

Bay Area Resonance: Painting a New Picture of Vibrant Culture, Sports and Tourism

As the coordinated development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area enters a fast lane, this exhibition showcases an innovative development model of "culture and tourism + grand events". Travel agency industry associations in various regions of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area have taken active actions. The "9+2 City Travel Industry Alliance" has regarded the "15th National Games" as an important carrier of the local "event economy", deeply integrating the cultural and tourism industry. During this exhibition, they reached a consensus: By developing integrated products of culture, sports and tourism, innovating all-round linkage mechanisms and building regional service systems, we will join hands to welcome the National Games and promote the high-quality development of tourism in the bay Area.

As the host city of the National Games, Guangzhou was the first to release the "50 Tourist Routes for the Year of the National Games", carefully connecting the characteristic scenic spots of various districts in Guangzhou. Cultural landmarks such as the Ancient City of the Maritime Silk Road, Xiguan Arcade, and the New Central Axis Art District have all been launched. Among them, a special "Travel with the Event" theme product has been launched, including theme tourism routes such as Hot Snow Miracle trendy toys, mountain climbing and swinging poles for a long voyage, and endless riding fun. These routes deeply integrate sports with leisure tourism, providing tourists with diverse sports and leisure scenarios.

The Bay Area Culture, Sports and Tourism Creative Experience Zone set up at this exhibition has become a vibrant venue for the whole nation to welcome the National Games. Visitors have encountered a series of amazing plans such as the "National Games" and the Greater Bay Area. At the exhibition site, visitors were immersed in the vitality of the Zumba party and strolled through the art tunnel of the 11-meter-long scroll "New Journey in the Bay Area", experiencing the astonishing beauty of martial arts, Hong Kong music, intangible cultural heritage Hong Kong-style milk tea, giant seal installations, the collaboration of a hundred schools, and artisans, vividly interpreting the integrated development path of "the direction of the Bay Area, the strengths of Hong Kong and Macao, and the capabilities of Guangdong".

03

Benefiting the people and sharing: Activating New Potential for Cultural and Tourism Consumption

When tourism becomes a standard part of a better life, tourism exhibitions become the "copywriting" for those who yearn for a better life, inspiring travel ideas, initiating wonderful experiences, and promoting new business forms. This exhibition has transformed into a window to the "Global vacation Map". Besides experiencing the charm of overseas tourism, visitors can also gain a wealth of products in the domestic exhibitor area. The exhibition brought together a large number of domestic cultural and tourism departments and enterprises. Including Beijing, Tibet, Hainan, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Foshan, Nyingchi, Chengdu, Chenzhou, Yangzhou, Taizhou, Anshun, Qiqihar, Bijie, Yunfu, Shanwei, Meizhou, Qingyuan, Zhanjiang, Wushan, Shufu, Qiannan Prefecture, Bomi, Zhaojun Culture and Tourism, Mangshan Forest Park, Yanguan Ancient City, Puyuan in Tongxiang, Changbai Mountain, Shixuechuan in Zhangjiakou, Niubeishan, Wuzhen in Tongxiang, etc. The event is also full of highlights. Various destinations offer visitors and tourists a variety of creative ways to enjoy the "treasure games", and the tourism exhibition empowers the destinations with more possibilities.

In the bustling and bustling travel agency sales hall, numerous cultural and tourism enterprises such as Guangdong China Travel Service, Guangzhou Travel Service, Kanghui, Ctrip, Canton Tower, China Southern Airlines, Guangzhou Xinhua, Guangdong Provincial Arts and Crafts Treasures Museum, Yixingyuan Culture and Tourism, Xingfu Home, Mingyang Holiday, Guinness World Records, Xiangyu Culture and Tourism, Xincheng Business Travel, Guangzhou Gift, and Zai Culture and Tourism are all in full swing. A vast array of travel products have been launched one after another, offering multiple discounts and bringing the latest interactive experiences.

During the three-day exhibition, various travel agencies participating as exhibitors also presented their performance reports one after another. Guangzhou Travel Service released its performance data, achieving the set goal of a year-on-year increase of over 30% in on-site sales during the three-day travel exhibition. It also conducted media matrix live broadcasts on two major social media platforms, Douyin and wechat Video Account, with sales in its live streaming rooms growing by more than 300% year-on-year. The polar cruise ship "Sea God" of Guangdong China Travel Service made its debut at GITF and offered exclusive discounts. Through this international stage of GITF, Guangdong China Travel Service conveys the innovative power of China's culture and tourism to global travelers. Kanghui Tourism, in collaboration with numerous partners in the cultural and tourism industry chain, has launched a wide range of discounted travel products both domestically and internationally. This has enabled many citizens to book their favorite trips on the spot, exclaiming that they offer "extremely high cost performance". Ctrip Travel created an immersive travel experience space at the event site. Professional travel customizers' sharing, a rich variety of interactive raffles, activity discounts on popular travel route products, and the "Old Friends Gathering · Young Summer" outbound theme products for the elderly group, among other exciting contents, have added diverse colors to this year's Guangzhou Travel Fair.

The four exhibition areas of Guangzhou Xinhua under the theme of "Yueyun Xinhua Yue Lv Guangfu" are full of surprises. The gifts from Guangzhou are highly favored by the public. The trendy cultural tourism consumption experience area created by the animation industry in Guangdong Province has become a popular check-in spot for Internet celebrities.

04

Continuous Symbiosis: A New Bond Connecting Humanistic Forces

GITF2025 is not only an industry grand event but also a dialogue of civilizations. This exhibition takes "meaningful tourism and lasting connection" as its core, and through three dimensions of intangible cultural heritage, cultural relics and museums, and ecological scientific research, it builds a new model of sustainable development where humanity and nature coexist, injecting profound value into the global tourism industry.

In the intangible cultural heritage zone, More than ten intangible cultural heritage skills, such as Guangcai, Guangxiu, Lingnan puppet show, Guangzhou cake seal, Xiguan bone setting, Guangzhou olive carving (nut carving), the making technique of Jia Nu Bing (Ling Su), the making technique of Zhongyi 'an Palace Niu Huang Wan, the preparation method of Xiao Chaihu, Lingnan bonsai technique, the traditional snack making technique of Shawan water milk, ivory carving, and handcrafted gold carving, have all come into the public eye. Traditional skills break through the boundaries of time and space, transforming from "cultural symbols" into "lifestyles".

The joint exhibition area of cultural relics and museums has linked up with 16 museums including the Guangzhou Museum, the Nanyue King Museum, and the Guangzhou Art Museum (Guangzhou Art Museum), allowing visitors to immerse themselves in a "visable, learnable, and perceptible" exhibition space for the revitalization of cultural relics. The cross-border practice of "from collection to IP" not only deepens the cultural dialogue between generations but also promotes museums to become the carriers of the city's cultural genes.

This year's exhibition has innovatively created a global ecological corridor that is the most eye-catching. By collaborating with the scientific team of Shitanji, a leading scientific research institution in China, and its founder, Dr. Chen Rui, a biologist from the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, it leads the audience to visit the Sanming Scientific Research Camp in Wuyi Mountain and the Ailao Mountain Scientific Research Camp in Jingdong, Yunnan Province. The in-depth scientific expeditions conducted in Malaysia, the Amazon, Madagascar, Kenya and Sri Lanka abroad vividly demonstrate the diverse ecological beauty of the Earth and deepen the concept of "coexistence between humans and nature".

From the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage skills through fingertips to the activation and awakening of cultural and museum ips, from the responsibility fulfillment of ecological scientific research to the intellectual collision on global issues, GITF2025, with "meaningful" travel as its brush, has painted a future picture of the coexistence of humanity and nature. This is not only a breakthrough in the homogenized competition within the industry, but also a practical application of the concept of sustainable development.

05

Intergenerational Empowerment: Unleashing New Vitality in Potential Tracks

As a barometer of the tourism industry trend, GITF2025, with a forward-looking strategic perspective, focuses on the two major consumer groups of "the elderly and the young". Through the construction of innovative scenarios and resource integration, it accurately captures the tourism consumption trends under the changes in population structure. This exhibition takes "intergenerational empowerment" as its fulcrum, leveraging the two trillion-yuan tracks of study Tours and the silver economy. Through the demonstration effect of benchmark projects, it redefines the value boundaries of the new-generation tourism industry.

This exhibition has pioneered the "Belt and Road" research and study industry ecosystem. Both the research and study zones and the creation of research and study projects have become the focus of public attention. The "National Style Youth ·2025 Maritime Silk Road Cycling and Hiking Growth Plan", jointly launched by the Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Guangzhou and the National Tourism Development Administration, was officially launched at this exhibition. As a key project for the 10th anniversary of the "Belt and Road Initiative", this event marks a new era of three-dimensional integration of "public welfare + sports + diplomacy" in cultural exchanges between Chinese and Sri Lankan youth. The cycling tour consists of six sections: cycling challenges, family time, public welfare actions, people-to-people diplomacy, cultural experiences, and special activities. Participants will receive three international certifications: a cycling certificate issued by the Ministry of Sports of Sri Lanka, an international public welfare and charity donation certificate, and a program certification from a top global business school. They will also be included in the "Belt and Road" youth talent reserve pool. The guarantee system provided by the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka throughout the process has set a new safety standard for cross-border study Tours.

In addition, the international study tour matrix has been upgraded simultaneously. At the exhibition, the 2026 Milan-Cortina d 'Ampezzo Winter Olympics Lecture Hall launched by the Italian Travel agency Around Italy focused on promoting high-end vacation destinations in the northern mountainous areas of Italy. Taking the centenary of the Chopin Piano Competition as an opportunity, the Polish Tourism Board has launched a music archaeology study tour. The Guangzhou Study Tour Association Zone fully showcases the vitality of Lingnan study Tours, builds a localized curriculum system covering intangible cultural heritage inheritance, museum exploration, and scientific and technological innovation practice, and aims to set a national benchmark for study Tours.

GITF2025 also pays attention to the travel "essential needs" of the elderly and provides them with a showcase stage for the first time. The final of the "Silk Road Silver Age · Dance Guangzhou" square dance Competition, hosted by the Organizing Committee of the Guangzhou International Travel Fair, was held at the fair. This mass event, themed "Road" and featuring multiple teams from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, has transformed square dancing into a cultural bridge, allowing senior dancers to showcase their vitality and creativity and break down age barriers with their passion.

After three days of competition at the exhibition, the first prize was finally decided: Guangzhou Qiaoyou Art Troupe of Yuexiu District Cultural Center. Second Prize: Fashion Splendor Model Art Troupe of Yuexiu District Cultural Center and Binfenghui Community Art Troupe; Third Prize, Aite Xingchen Dance Team, Guangzhou Sports Center Jade Dance Troupe, Guangzhou Deyi Dance Troupe; Nomination Awards: Hongling Art Troupe of Liwan District Cultural Center, Guangzhou Railway Fire Phoenix Art, Tianhe 172 Model Art Troupe, Shangziwu Art Troupe of Haizhu District Cultural Center. The champion team won the outbound tour voucher provided by Guangzhou Kanghui Travel Agency and the qualification for the tour leader to conduct in-depth Tours to Chiang Mai. The Polish Tourism Board also specially opened a friendly channel for the elderly and, in collaboration with VASCO, provided the latest generation of translation equipment, demonstrating the international practice of elderly-friendly services. All the award-winning works will not only be given special performances and international cultural exchange Tours in the follow-up activities of the Guangzhou International Travel Fair, but also be directly included in the global tour reserve pool and subsequently enter schools, communities, scenic spots and even domestic and international cultural exchange stages.

In addition, during the selection of the TOP3 most popular online videos initiated by the official video account of the exhibition, the Tianhe 172 model Team topped the list with 29,671 retweets, the Nansha District Lujun Model Team ranked second with 27,156 retweets, and the Aite Xingchen Dance Team ranked third with 15,770 retweets. These popular figures have given a boost. It confirms the profound evolution of the digital participation of the silver-haired group.

GITF2025 not only precisely captures the dual-track demands of educational travel for Generation Z and value travel for the elderly, but also, with a platform mindset, connects government, enterprise, research and learning resources and links cross-generational cultural consumption, providing innovative solutions for the transformation and upgrading of the tourism industry and unleashing the vitality of potential tracks.

06

Ideological Exchange: Leading the New Wave of Transformation in the Tourism Industry

At this exhibition, a series of high-level theme forums have attracted much attention. There were wonderful speeches, case presentations, and roundtable discussions where ideas collided... Inject strong impetus into the high-quality development of the global cultural and tourism industry. The five major theme forums cover core contents such as outbound transformation, inbound breakthrough, study and research innovation, cultural and museum revitalization, and value tourism. Over 50 industry leaders and experts discuss the future trends of the industry, thereby deepening the connection and collision of ideas and further understanding the global cultural and tourism ecosystem.

The China Outbound Tourism Forum, which kicked off on its opening day, was themed "Rebuilding Outbound Tourism: Sustainable Connectivity and Value Co-creation" - A Future of Travel from Eco-Friendliness to Cultural Symbiosis. It brought together top industry experts, directly addressed industry pain points, and explored future opportunities. International representatives such as the Asia Pacific Travel Association (PATA), the United Nations Tourism Organization (UN Tourism), the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI), the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF), and the China-Eu Commission jointly explored the "practical path of Sustainable Outbound Tourism". "Deep cultural connection and the construction of regional tourism ecosystems" as well as how to respond meaningfully to the constantly changing customer demands and global challenges, and promote the further development of China's outbound tourism.

The second study tour theme forum, themed "Jointly Initiating a New Chapter of Study Tours", has provided a new platform for communication among destinations that have been deeply engaged in the study tour theme. At the forum, the guests discussed the monetization code of Chopin's music IP in Poland for cultural tourism, the ecological research and study model led by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the in-depth empowerment of the identity of young people in Hong Kong and Macao - deconstructing trends with top-level thinking and reshaping logic with practical cases.

This year's inbound tourism theme forum, focusing on the theme of "Trends in Inbound Tourism from a Global Perspective", brought together representatives from domestic and foreign tourism institutions and enterprises to discuss the recovery and innovation of inbound tourism in the post-pandemic era. The forum, starting from the sustainable development of inbound tourism in Guangzhou, explored the market opportunities of inbound tourism, the construction of destination brands and the optimization of cross-border services, promoted the integration of international experience and local practices, helped create a more attractive inbound tourism ecosystem, and demonstrated the vitality and potential of Guangzhou as an international tourism hub.

The first "Meaningful Tourism" theme forum of GITF was led by Professor Wolfgang Georg Arlt, a global pioneer in culture and tourism, and Peter Semone, the president of PATA. It revealed the definition of "Meaningful Tourism" and explored how to create a sustainable tourism ecosystem through innovative collaboration and adaptive development. Achieve a win-win situation for tourists, communities and enterprises.

As the grand finale of this exhibition, the fourth "Bringing Cultural Relics to Life Live" sharing session saw domestic museum directors, cultural relics protection experts, and representatives of cultural and creative enterprises discussing the topic of "cultural and museum IP", exploring the way for museums to break through their boundaries in the future, in line with the theme of International Museum Day on May 18th, "The Future of Museums in a Rapidly Changing Society". During the same period, the Guangzhou Museum Association, in collaboration with 16 institutions and units, made their first collective appearance in the museum zone of the exhibition. Through unified planning and resource integration, they encouraged and supported the coordinated development of museums and related enterprises and institutions, forming a closed loop of the entire industrial chain of "exhibition + education + cultural creativity + tourism", injecting cultural impetus into Guangzhou's construction of a world-class tourist destination.

Closing does not mean the end; culture and tourism move towards the future

As the oldest international travel exhibition in China, GITF connects six stakeholders including travelers, local communities, tourism practitioners, tourism enterprises, governments at all levels and the natural environment with a "sustainable win-win model", becoming the "smart hub" that provides precise matching for the global travel industry.

Although this year's exhibition has come to an end, innovative practices such as "culture and tourism + sports", "activation of cultural ips", and "exploration of potential tracks" will continue to take root. Next May, Guangzhou will continue to maintain an open attitude, connecting the global tourism industry and jointly painting a new chapter of high-quality development!

May 21st - 23rd, 2026

Make another appointment with the world and gather again at GITF!