The International Tourism Alliance of Silk Road Cities (“the Alliance”) was launched in 2023 by the China Center of International Cultural Exchange and Tourism Promotion (formerly known as the “NICE”), directly under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China, in partnership with well-known tourism cities worldwide. This initiative figures among the measures to “enhance people-to-people exchanges”— one of the Eight Major Steps China will take to support the joint pursuit of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, as announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.
In the spirit of “peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning, and reciprocity” embodied by the Silk Road, the Alliance is an inclusive international tourism cooperation mechanism that works by conducting, among other activities, annual mayors’ meetings, professional forums, business talks, and joint promotions. It is designed to enhance friendly exchange and programmatic cooperation in tourism between its Member Cities, thus fueling a shared inbound tourism growth and tourism upgrading, and contributing to realizing the Global Development Initiative and the Global Civilization Imitative. As of September 2025, a total of 83 well-known tourism cities from 33 countries have joined the Alliance.
Alliance members are tourism cities from various countries with cultural and tourism resource advantages and development potential. The main body should be city governments, tourism management departments, or industry associations. The Alliance has a rotating presidency city, which is determined through internal consultation based on member self-recommendation or nomination. The presidency city serves a one-year term.
The China International Culture and Tourism Exchange Center serves as the Alliance Secretariat, responsible for daily communication, organization and coordination, publicity and promotion, and comprehensive services.
The Alliance organizes major activities and publishes alliance news.
Held in the third quarter each year in the rotating presidency city, inviting mayors or representatives from member cities to discuss the Alliance's development direction, annual work plans, and selection of the rotating presidency city.
Held in Alliance member cities, inviting member representatives, experts, international organization representatives, and diplomats. Content includes keynote speeches, dialogues, and skill training to share experiences and enhance capabilities.
Inviting travel trade representatives from member cities for professional negotiations, market matching, product marketing, destination promotion, and inspection tours to deepen practical cooperation and promote inbound tourism growth.
A public roadshow event featuring food tasting, cultural performances, exhibition booths, stamp collecting, quizzes, and social media influencer live streams to showcase member cities' cultural and tourism resources.
Held at renowned cultural and tourism exhibitions worldwide, showcasing member cities' natural scenery, cultural heritage, and local customs through photo exhibitions, displays, videos, and interactive performances.
The Alliance organizes other activities as needed, including official visits between member cities and youth exchanges.
The Alliance publishes a bilingual (Chinese-English) monthly newsletter "Silk Road Tourism Cities Alliance Newsletter", covering Alliance news, academic exchanges, industry information sharing, policy interpretation, and member city tourism promotion.
As of September 2025, 83 renowned tourism cities from 33 countries have joined the Alliance.
(As of September 2025: 83 cities from 33 countries, 29 chinese, 54 non-Chinese)
A timeline of major events and activities hosted or attended by the Alliance.
Welcome to contact the Secretariat of the International Tourism Alliance of Silk Road Cities for more information or cooperation inquiries.
Address
No. A9, Jianguomen Inner Ave, Dongcheng District, Beijing
Postal Code
100740
Tel
0086-010-65201475; 0086-010-65201479
ciceccc@chinaculture.org
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