China Tourism Technology Conferences

Beijing Tourism Development Conference (北京市旅游发展大会) Organized jointly by the Beijing Municipal Party Committee and City Government, this conference held its inaugural edition on October 24, 2024 — described officially as Beijing's first-ever tourism work meeting convened at that level of authority. At the exhibition accompanying the inaugural event, Mentougou District (门头沟区) presented a "文旅数智人" (cultural-tourism digital intelligent human) functioning as a digital promotion officer (推介官). Developed using resources from the Jingxi Zhigu (京西智谷) technology base and drawing on the district's cultural-tourism resource database, the digital human conducted real-time interactive Q&A with attendees and was reported by the district's official government portal as the conference's most eye-catching exhibit. No second edition has been confirmed as of April 2026, and the event is flagged as potentially a one-off inaugural triggered by the May 2024 national directive.

CIFTIS Cultural Tourism Exhibition (服贸会文旅服务专题展) Held annually in Beijing each September as the cultural tourism service component of the China International Fair for Trade in Services (服贸会), this exhibition operates on a substantial scale — the 2025 edition spanned 11,000 square meters and hosted 415 enterprises. It functions as the single most prominent annual showcase for tourism-oriented digital humans in China. The Summer Palace's 3D digital human AI concierge "Xiao Yi" (小颐), loaded with more than 100,000 words of cultural content and handling over 340,000 annual consultations, was a centerpiece of the 2025 edition. The exhibition also features 4K AI digital humans, AIGC digital avatars, and XR virtual worlds within a dedicated cultural tourism service zone, making it the highest-visibility annual deployment platform for named tourism digital human products.

Changsha City Tourism Development Conference (长沙市旅游发展大会) An annual municipal-level conference organized by the Changsha CPC Committee and City Government, rotating among Changsha's districts and counties since 2022. It typically falls in September or October. At the 4th edition held September 26, 2025, in Ningxiang (宁乡), an unnamed AI digital human served as co-presenter alongside Ningxiang Party Secretary Zhang Zuolin during the tourism promotion segment, co-narrating a visual experience described as a "穿越千年的时空长廊" (corridor through millennia) using dynamic effects to present local cultural heritage. The conference follows the Hunan Province model of competitive host-district bidding designed to channel tourism investment toward the hosting locality.

China Cultural Tourism Industry Expo (中国文化旅游产业博览会) Inaugurated in 2024, this expo rotates between Tianjin and Wuhan and features a dedicated Smart Tourism Hall (智慧旅游馆). The inaugural Tianjin edition drew more than 2,000 enterprises across 150,000 square meters and featured AI-powered tourism companion systems alongside immersive digital experiences, making digital humans a structural component of its smart tourism zone rather than a peripheral showcase. Scheduled for September, the expo is positioned as a national-level trade platform bridging cultural content, investment, and tourism technology, with digital human exhibits among its recurring smart tourism attractions.

Digital China Summit Digital Culture Sub-forum (数字中国建设峰会·数字文化分论坛) Held annually in Fuzhou since 2018, the Digital China Summit's culture-dedicated sub-forum has become a recurring venue for immersive tourism digital human demonstrations. The 2025 edition featured a Mei-school Peking Opera digital human of "Mu Guiying" (木桂英) in an interactive performance where attendees donned motion-capture equipment to become virtual opera characters performing alongside real actors — a format that functions simultaneously as cultural tourism experience and digital human technology demonstration. The sub-forum falls in the April-to-May window and consistently bridges national digital economy policy with applied cultural and tourism sector deployment.

Digital Cultural Tourism Brand Innovation Conference (数字文旅品牌创新大会) Organized under the guidance of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and hosted by Shanxi Province's Department of Culture and Tourism, this conference has been held in Taiyuan in both 2023 and 2024. It focuses specifically on the intersection of digital innovation and cultural tourism branding, making digital humans a central rather than peripheral theme. At the 2023 edition on March 21, Shanxi's first ultra-realistic virtual digital human "Qingniao" (青鸟) — modeled on the bird motif of the Jinhou Niaozun (晋侯鸟尊) artifact — was unveiled as Shanxi's official cultural-tourism virtual star ambassador (山西文旅虚拟星推官), performing real-time motion-captured interaction with the host on stage. The virtual digital human "Tianyu" (天妤) also appeared via entrance-area display screens at the same event. The 2024 edition, held in August in Taiyuan, released fifteen digital cultural tourism innovation cases with virtual digital humans recognized as a formal innovation category alongside AI and immersive performing arts. Though sharing an organizer with the Shanxi Province Tourism Development Conference, this is a distinct event series focused on digital technology branding rather than the province's signature annual tourism development convening.

First China Digital Human Conference (首届中国数字人大会) Organized by the China Internet Association, the inaugural edition was held in September 2024 and brought together digital human developers across industry sectors. Its tourism dimension was embodied by "Sulin" (苏琳), a 3D intelligent digital panda created by China Telecom's AI Research Institute for Aba Prefecture in Sichuan. Sulin recognizes multiple dialects, possesses local cultural knowledge, and provides interactive tourism services — representing a model of regional cultural-tourism digital human deployment at the provincial authority level. The conference also saw the launch of China Telecom's "TeleTrip Xingchen Cultural Tourism" (TeleTrip 星辰文旅) digital human tourism product line. Whether this event recurs annually or remains a one-off inaugural has not been confirmed.

Foshan Tourism Development Conference (佛山旅游发展大会) The inaugural edition was held November 1, 2024, in Nanhai District, organized by the Foshan municipal government. It is the only confirmed provincial or municipal tourism development conference to deploy a digital human in a formal mascot capacity rather than as a sponsor exhibit or sub-conference demonstration. The conference launched "Wufushi" (五福狮, Five Fortune Lions) — a tourism digital human image ambassador (旅游数字人形象大使) — alongside the "Fuqu You" (佛趣游) smart tourism platform, integrating the digital mascot with a functioning tourism technology ecosystem from the outset. A follow-up "Four Mountains Two Rivers" (四山两江) Cultural Tourism Ecosystem Conference was held in May 2025, suggesting the event may recur under an evolving format, though a formal second annual edition has not yet been confirmed.

Guangdong International Tourism Industry Expo (广东国际旅游产业博览会/CITIE) Held annually in Guangzhou each September, the CITIE is a major trade-fair-format event within the provincial tourism industry calendar. At the 2024 edition, Bangyan Technology's digital human platform (邦彦技术"数字人"平台) was a featured exhibit, displayed alongside smart tourism robots and VR theaters in the technology zone. The expo provides a recurring commercial showcase venue where digital human vendors targeting the tourism sector can demonstrate products to industry buyers, distinguishing it from the government-mobilization format of the provincial development conferences.

Guangxi Cultural Tourism Development Conference (广西文化旅游发展大会) Among the longest-running provincial cultural tourism development conferences in China, this event has been held annually since 2019 and consistently in November, rotating competitively among Guangxi's prefectural cities: Guilin (2019), Liuzhou (2020), Beihai (2021), Chongzuo (2022), Nanning (2023), Wuzhou (2024), Baise (2025), Hezhou (2026). Organized by the Guangxi Autonomous Region CPC Committee and Government. At the 2022 Chongzuo edition, a digital human embodying the folk-song icon "Liu Sanjie" (刘三姐) appeared as a cultural ambassador — one of the earliest confirmed digital human deployments at a provincial tourism development conference in China, preceding the wave of 2024 post-directive adoptions by two years.

Guizhou Tourism Industry Development Conference (贵州旅游产业发展大会) Founded in 2006, this is the oldest provincial tourism development conference in China and a consistent benchmark for the format. Organized by the Guizhou Provincial CPC Committee and Government, it rotates annually among Guizhou's prefectural cities and districts. Digital human "Huang Xiaoxi" (黄小西) has been confirmed at the 2025 and 2026 editions, representing one of the more sustained deployments of a named digital human across consecutive annual editions of a provincial tourism conference. The conference's longevity — nearly two decades before the May 2024 national directive — distinguishes it as a conference driven by endogenous provincial tourism strategy rather than top-down policy compliance.

Hebei Tourism Industry Development Conference (河北省旅游产业发展大会) Founded in 2016, this annual conference is the second-oldest established provincial tourism development conference series in the country, organized by the Hebei Provincial CPC Committee and Government with the Hebei Department of Culture and Tourism co-hosting each rotating edition. Nine editions had been held through 2025, with a competitive bidding system (申办制) determining host cities. The conference regularly generates over 80 billion yuan in project signings per edition and anchors Hebei's "Zheme Jin, Name Mei, Zhoumo Dao Hebei" (这么近，那么美，周末到河北) tourism brand campaign. At the 8th edition held September 22, 2024, in Langfang (廊坊), the virtual digital human "Ji Youyou" (冀悠悠) appeared at the Life Aesthetics Market (生活美学市集) exhibition area as an interactive attraction alongside national-brand products, traditional costumes, and intangible-heritage foods. Verified through the Hebei provincial government portal (hebei.gov.cn) and Hebei Daily reporting.

Hunan Province Tourism Development Conference (湖南省旅游发展大会) Annual since 2022 and organized by the Hunan Provincial CPC Committee and Government under the principle "one conference revitalizes one city" (办一次会、兴一座城), this conference rotates competitively among Hunan's cities and has become a model for the format nationally. From 2025 it increased to twice-yearly frequency, combining spring and autumn editions. Host cities are confirmed through 2027. Digital humans have appeared at multiple editions: the virtual digital human "Xiao Yang" (小漾) debuted at the 1st edition in Zhangjiajie in November 2022, and a digital human named "Huo Chuquan" (火出圈) appeared at the 3rd edition in Hengyang in September 2024. The conference's multi-edition deployment of named digital human characters across different host cities demonstrates one of the more systematic approaches to digital human integration at the provincial conference level.

ITB China China's edition of the international travel trade show, held annually in Shanghai each May. ITB China specifically programs sessions on AI digital humans empowering cultural tourism IP (AI数字人赋能文旅IP). At the 2025 edition, Hubei's interactive digital human "Chu Yin" (楚音) was showcased for its multilingual tourist interaction capability, operating across exhibitor booths from more than 85 countries. ITB China functions as a key commercial exhibition venue where tourism digital human products gain international trade-facing exposure alongside the primary audience of travel industry professionals.

Mianyang City Cultural and Tourism Development Conference (绵阳市文化和旅游发展大会) An annual conference rotating within the Mianyang municipal area, with confirmed editions in March 2023 (Jiangyou) and June 2024 (Mianyang city proper). At the 2023 Jiangyou edition, the world's first "Young Li Bai Digital Human" (全球首款"少年李白数字人") was released and designated as Jiangyou City's Cultural Promotion Ambassador. The digital human appeared at the opening ceremony and subsequently participated in live-streaming sessions promoting local products alongside CCTV.com hosts. A concurrent China Cultural Tourism Digital IP Industry Development Conference (中国文旅数字IP产业发展大会) was held within the same event, making Mianyang's conference one of the earliest and most substantive cases of digital human integration at a municipal-level tourism development conference.

Shandong Province Cultural Tourism Industry High-Quality Development Conference (山东省文旅产业高质量发展大会) Annual since 2020, this conference was originally named the Shandong Province Tourism Development Conference before rebranding in 2024. Organized on a rotating-city basis across Shandong's prefectural cities, it has stabilized at a late-April scheduling window following earlier variation across September, June, and March. The 6th edition was held April 24-25, 2025, in Dezhou. Confirmed digital human deployments are documented in prior baseline research for this series, establishing it among the provincial conference series with a verified track record of digital human integration, though specific named characters and deployment contexts from public sources were not surfaced in the secondary research sweep.

Shanxi Province Tourism Development Conference (山西省旅游发展大会) Annual since approximately 2015, this conference is among the oldest provincial tourism development series in China and has evolved through four distinct format versions, including a televised competition format. Recent editions have trended toward June and July scheduling: the 9th edition was held June 27, 2023, in Datong, and the 10th on July 26-28, 2024, in Taiyuan. Digital human deployments at this series are confirmed in prior baseline research. The conference shares its provincial organizer — the Shanxi Department of Culture and Tourism — with the separately organized Digital Cultural Tourism Brand Innovation Conference, though the two events serve distinct strategic functions.

Shenzhen International Cultural Industries Fair (深圳文博会/ICIF) China's largest cultural industry fair by cumulative transaction volume, surpassing three trillion yuan, held annually in May in Shenzhen. The ICIF established a dedicated AI exhibition area in 2025 featuring more than 60 AI companies, with digital humans, humanoid robots, and VR cultural relic restoration among the primary display categories. Its scale and commercial weight make it a major annual launchpad for tourism-oriented digital humans entering the broader cultural industry market, with digital human developers using the fair to debut products and secure partnerships before the September conference season.

Sichuan Province Cultural and Tourism Development Conference (四川省文化和旅游发展大会) Annual and organized by the Sichuan Provincial CPC Committee and Government, with the cultural-tourism investment component reaching its 10th edition in 2024. The conference rotates among Sichuan's prefectural cities and typically falls in September. The 2024 edition in Ya'an was accompanied by the 2024 Sichuan Digital Cultural Tourism Development Conference (2024四川数字文旅发展大会), formally designated as a key supporting event (重要配套活动) of the main provincial conference, held September 27, 2024, in Ya'an's Yucheng District. At that sub-conference, the panda-shaped AI digital human "Anyi Digital Human" (安逸数字人) performed real-time interaction with presenters while demonstrating a new-generation cultural-tourism industry large language model (文旅行业大模型) developed by the national-level Visual Fusion Scene Experience Cultural and Tourism Technology Innovation Center in Sichuan. This bundling of a dedicated digital culture-and-tourism sub-conference makes the Sichuan event the most structurally integrated digital human showcase among China's provincial tourism development conferences.

Smart Tourism Conference (智慧旅游大会, CTA) Organized by the China Tourism Association's Smart Tourism Branch, this recurring specialist conference focuses on the intersection of digital technology and tourism operations. Mofa Technology (魔珐科技) — known formally as MoFa (Shanghai) Information Technology Co., Ltd. (魔珐（上海）信息科技有限公司) — presented "Digital Human+" solutions at the 6th edition, demonstrating 3D AI-guided tours, one-to-one interactive digital guides, and digital human livestreaming for scenic spots. Deployment case studies included the Qimen cultural tourism digital spokesperson "Qunfang Zui" (群芳最) and a Nanjing Yangtze cruise digital tour guide. The conference functions as a practitioner-oriented forum where tourism operators encounter applied digital human products rather than headline mascots, making it a key conduit between digital human vendors and the tourism destination management sector.

Smart Tourism Development Conference (智慧旅游发展大会, MCT) Organized by the Science and Technology Division of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's Resource Development Department, this annual government-convened conference serves as the primary official platform for national smart tourism policy dissemination and releases the annual National Smart Tourism Development Report. Confirmed editions were held in November in both Nanjing (November 23, 2023) and Beijing's Shijingshan District (November 22, 2024). At the 2024 Beijing edition, holographic projection boxes with 3D digital humans were used to introduce museum exhibits — a deployment model that treats the digital human as a museum docent technology rather than a tourism marketing character. As a Ministry-organized event, its digital human deployments carry institutional endorsement with sector-wide signaling value.

Tangshan Tourism Development Conference (唐山旅游发展大会) Annual since 2017, rotating among Tangshan's counties and districts with a September-to-October scheduling window. Five city-level editions were confirmed between 2017 and 2021. Tangshan also hosted the 7th Hebei Provincial Tourism Development Conference in September 2023, creating overlapping venues for tourism development mobilization at both city and provincial tiers. Digital human deployments at this conference series are confirmed in prior baseline research, though no named character was independently surfaced in the secondary public-source sweep, suggesting deployment details may rely on local government or industry reporting not captured in national media searches.

Yongzhou Tourism Development Conference (永州旅游发展大会) Annual since 2022, rotating among Yongzhou's counties with variable scheduling: the 2nd edition was in April 2023, the 3rd in December 2024, and the 4th in October 2025. Yongzhou is also confirmed as host of the 7th Hunan Province Tourism Development Conference in autumn 2026, creating a convergence of city-level and provincial-level events in the same municipality. Digital human deployments at this conference series are confirmed in prior baseline research. Secondary research for the census identified digital technology elements including a "数字文脉解码" (digital cultural heritage decoding) component, though no independently reportable named digital human character was surfaced in publicly available sources.