Smart Tourism: New Exploration of Smart City in China

WANNING, China, Oct. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Wanning, a coastal city on China's southern tropical island of Hainan Province, has been exploring a distinctive pattern to boost its tourism industry in the wave of smart city construction in China.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131021/HK00950)

The city, which strives to boost its tourist industry by investing huge to make itself "smarter" was among the 193 Chinese trial cities that have been approved by the country's urban planning authorities over the past year to develop into "smart cities." "To achieve the construction goal of smart city, we have established an industries alliance of smart tourism in Wanning, which we call it 'smart tourism'," said Zhang Meiwen, mayor of Wanning.

Based on the industries alliance, the 16 member companies are trying to establish one-stop services that integrate food, lodging and shopping services for tourists. By combining all the tourism products, tourists could experience easy and fun travel in the city.

"Smart tourism is the biggest characteristic of smart construction in Wanning. Even there are many difficulties to overcome, still we have already taken the first step on smart city construction," the leader of the project told the press.

The smart city program, initiated last November in China, was part of the country's efforts to explore ways to foster a new type of urbanization. Analysts believe that the program has presented a beautiful picture for both the country's future urban life and the potential of its economic growth.

SOURCE Business Operation Service Center of Global Smart City Summit Forum