Unveiling Heilongjiang’s Tourism Future: Harbin Hosts Prestigious Global Forum

Published on December 25, 2025

The 11th edition of the Global Tourism Economy Forum (GTEF) has been successfully conducted in the City of Harbin, Province of Heilongjiang, China. Under the title “New Quality Productive Forces: Powering the Global Tourism Economy,” this forum has created an opportunity for the world to focus on the idea exchange and promotion of Heilongjiang’s increasing position in the global tourism industry.

High-ranking state officials, industry leaders, and experts in the field of tourism from over 30 countries and 4 continents came together for this big event. Over 1,500 of them participated in the forum. This event increased the strategic value of the Province of Heilongjiang and highlighted its potential capacity to shape the future of tourism.

The Objectives and Strategic Importance of the Forum

The GTEF, initiated and organized by the Provincial Government of Heilongjiang and UN Tourism, has become one of the most prominent international tourism development forums. It has become a point of development and a hub for the world to gain insights into the current trends in the tourism sector. This year’s forum focused on “New Quality Productive Forces,” an idea which is integral to China’s 15th Five-Year Plan on the need to modernize the industrial system, promoting sustainable development in tourism.

This forum’s event outside of Macao marks the first edition of the event, further cementing the significance of Heilongjiang as a center for tourism innovation and collaboration. The province boasts rich natural resources and enhances its cultural heritage through an innovative and unique approach to winter and ice tourism, a significant growth area for its winter tourism offerings.

Heilongjiang’s Growing Global Appeal as a Tourist Destination

Recently, Heilongjiang’s capital, Harbin, has become prominent worldwide, especially for its winter tourism activities, such as the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival. The winter tourism activities planned for the region have turned the once cold and unattractive resources into an economic powerhouse, drawing millions of tourists to the region.

Tourism is often promoted within the provincial cultural and ecological frameworks, with modern tourism infrastructure incorporating heritage tourism. The harmonious blend of modern and heritage tourism within the framework of the region’s unique tourism attributes, cultural, historical, natural, and urban, enables the region to actively participate as a tourism gateway to Northeast Asia.

At the inaugural reception, government officials stressed the need for Heilongjiang to adjust its position regarding the province’s integration of the tourism industry to gain new, valuable alliances and innovations to help the province compete within the global tourism industry. This brought to the forefront of the discussion the province’s cultural tourism, which continues to entice travelers around the world.

Global Tourism Leaders Discuss Sustainable Development and Collaboration

Most notable in the sessions were members of the UN and the Secretary General of the UN Tourism, while speaking on the importance of gaining and supporting the growth of the global economy through tourism. Of equal importance was the support for tourism, and its economic potential to gain and to support the growth of sustainable development and cultural inclusiveness.

It was in the ideas of collaboration that support for shared prosperity and understanding across borders within tourism was highlighted. The forum focused on new sustainable tourism as being essential to new, developing destinations like Heilongjiang, in the need to balance economic growth and the preservation of the environment.

The forum also noted the impact of tourism on the development of the local economies. How to make tourism economically beneficial for local communities and sustain economically balanced growth was the focus of the meeting of Heilongjiang’s government with the global leaders in tourism.

Harbin: A Future World Heritage

The Governor of Heilongjiang Province was on the floor acknowledging the ambition of the region to further focus on the global tourism industry. He mentioned how the province’s tourism industry is on the brink of expansion because of further international collaboration and new innovative developments. With the provided modern amenities, the natural features, diverse cultures and histories, and the developed infrastructures of the region, tourism is bound to flourish.

Harbin is now the best example of a city that has economically transformed itself through tourism. Having world tourist attractions like the Ice and Snow Festival, the city offers its visitors a complete picnic that is different from the scenic beauty. With its tourism culture, Harbin is different from other urban centers in China and is destined to be a global tourism hub. Foremost Highlights of the Harbin GTEF and the Future of Global Tourism

Supports and endorses the advancement of Global Tourism for the 11 GTEF Harbin Global Tourism Forum for the Distinguished 11 GTEF Harbin Global Tourism Forum. In particular, that of Heilongjiang Province, which is making notable advances in the marketing of its tourism products and service offers and in its tourism market penetration and investments in tourism value chains and circuits. The region is poised as a frontline contender in the shift of the core of the global tourism marketplace in the integration of Culture, Technology, and Sustainability. The focus of the Forum was on the achievements and development of partnerships, innovations, and collaborations that will shape tourism over the coming years in the region.

Harbin GTEF Forum is a remarkable demonstration of the value and potential of Global Tourism and its role in Empre of the World economies and in bridging Cultures. In the transformations of Heilongjiang Province, the Province will have a major influence on the GTEF Global Tourism.

Conclusion: Heilongjiang’s Global Tourism Potential

The 11th Global Tourism Economy Forum held in Harbin was triumphant in bringing distinguished industry stakeholders and tourism specialists from different parts of the globe. With the Global Tourism Economy Forum facilitating the development of international partnerships, technological advancements, and sustainable forms of tourism, Heilongjiang Province stands to gain as a major world tourism hub.

This forum was not just about giving a positive image of the province, butalso about the importance of tourism in facilitating the interrelation of diverse peoples and the socioeconomic development of a region. With the world moving past various global hindrances, the Global Tourism Economy Forum will not be the last interaction of its kind to ignite and propel the development of tourism in the world.