This yearthe tourism market in Shandong has shown a strong recovery. In the first three quarters, the province received 601 million domestic tourists and achieved a domestic tourism revenue of 730.977 billion yuan, with year-on-year growth of 47.01% and 50.09%, respectively. Shandong is promoting the transformation and upgrading of the cultural and tourism industry witha focus on quality, integration, andon-sitetourist experience, further polishing the golden brand of "Hospitable Shandong". Since its opening on January 7th this year, the Song Dynasty SleeplessCity in Dongping County, Tai'an, has received a total of 2.7171 million tourists. Dongpinghu Cultural and Tourism Group has invested 120 million yuan to optimize and develop the area by integrating the Grand Canal culture and Yellow River culture.The whole senic area has taken on a new look with comprehensive services in catering, sightseeing, entertaining, etc.

Shandong currently has 1,205 A-level tourist attractions, ranking among the top in the country. In recent years, Shandong has taken measuresto improve the quality of scenic spots, injecting momentum into the integrated development of culture and tourism. From January to October this year, the Zhoucun Ancient Mall Scenic Area in Zibo, Shandong received a total of 4.01 million tourists, an increase of 40% compared to the same period in 2019. The Shuihu HeroesCity in Yuncheng, Heze, focuses on "Shuihu Culture"and featuresfive major functional areas: the martial arts study area, ancient City tourist area, commercial area, performance area, and sports area. It has been rated as a national 4A level tourist attraction and receives over one million tourists annually.

This spring, the provincialgovernment issued the "Opinions on Promoting the Deep Integration of Culture and Tourism andthe High Quality Development of Tourism Industry". The Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism launched the "2023 Shandong Provincial Culture and Tourism Quality Improvement and Empowerment Plan", which put forward specific requirements for scenic spots to create normalized performance projects, and focuseson building six brands, including excellent traditional culture innovation and development demonstration sites, national red culture inheritance sites,international golden coastleisure resort, etc. The combination of "performance+travel+regional culture" has become a new consumption trend for the integration of culture and tourism.

In recent years, various regions in Shandong have developed leisure tourism products from a detailed perspective, providing tourists with better infrastructure and thoughtful services. While Zibo Barbecue has becomeapopular phenomenon, more efforts are focused onthe urban management and services behind. In order to turn media attention into tourist revenue, Zibo City has carried out actions to improve the quality of scenic spots from six aspectsincludingimproving infrastructure, optimizing service quality, and innovating tourism formats. A large number of scenic spots have seized the opportunity and successfully come into spotlight.

Along the midlle route ofthe Jinan-Qingdao Railway, which was opened to traffic in late September this year, the 10 service parking areas has become popular must-visits with their unique exotic architectural styles andforeign-flavored food imitating "the Belt and Road"countries.

Accommodation is a crucial part of the cultural and tourism industry. Jinan introduced policies in May toallocate 20 million yuan annually for five consecutive years to promote the upgrading of the tourism and accommodation industry; Qingdao has also announced the introduction of relevant policies to increase support for hotels and homestays. Under policy incentives, more and more branded hotels choose to settle down inShandong, providing more refined services such as full day catering customization, child care, route planning, airport transfers, etc., to meet the personalized needs of tourists.