A sneak peek at the highlights of the Nanjing Cultural & Tourism Festival 2025

The 2025 Nanjing Cultural & Tourism Festival will be held from June 12th to July 11th, with the theme of "Hello Nanjing · Reading 'Ning' a Thousand Times Without Getting Tired". It aims to promote the high-quality development of Nanjing's tourism industry, highlight its status as a historical and cultural city, showcase its rich cultural and tourism resources, focus on inbound tourism, boost consumption and promote investment. Create a favorable urban image that attracts both local and distant visitors and is shared by both hosts and guests.

The opening ceremony was full of highlights

The opening ceremony of this cultural tourism festival will be held at 19:30 on June 12th. At that time, representatives of cities in the Nanjing Metropolitan Area, representatives of key cooperative cities, overseas travel agencies, tourism e-commerce platforms, travel experts and media friends will gather together to witness this grand opening moment.

At the opening ceremony, the micro-documentary "Love Residing in the Misty Waters of Six Dynasties" about Nanjing's culture and tourism will be released. Cultural scholars and performing artists will jointly tell and interpret the historical and cultural heritage as well as the cultural and tourism resources of Nanjing. Meanwhile, the selection activity of the 2025 Most Beautiful Nanjing City Walk Route will also be officially launched. In addition, the release of the analysis report on the inbound business tourism market will provide important references for the international development of Nanjing's cultural and tourism industry. As an important part of this cultural and tourism festival, the "Ten Measures for Promoting Inbound Tourism Development in Nanjing City" will also be released. At the same time, mobile "Leyou Cards" are presented to inbound tourists. This card integrates functions such as "high-quality network, convenient payment, smart travel, worry-free check-in, and scanning code entry", serving as a "digital pass" for inbound tourists. Nanjing's inbound tourism enterprises signed cooperation agreements with representatives of travel agencies from key port cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Xi 'an, Guilin, and Zhangjiajie). In the future, this will bring more tourists to Nanjing's inbound tourism. In 2024, our city will receive 580,000 inbound overnight tourists, an increase of 69.2% year-on-year, and achieve a tourism foreign exchange income of 790 million US dollars. It increased by 12.1% year-on-year. Since 2025, China has implemented a visa-free entry policy for South Korean citizens. According to statistics, cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Xi 'an and Nanjing are becoming the most favored destinations for South Korean young people aged 20 to 30.

The municipal-level activities promoting consumption through the integration of culture, business, sports and tourism are a major highlight of this cultural tourism festival. During the event, the organizers will release four distinctive themes: "Ecological Cuisine, Cultural and Museum Exhibitions, Sports and Leisure, and Parent-Child Study Tours", with a total of over a hundred activities. The event covers multiple fields such as tourism, food, shopping, concerts, stage plays, exhibitions, intangible cultural heritage, markets, and sports events, bringing a brand-new consumption experience to citizens and tourists. Tourists can enjoy the wonderful artistic performances while tasting the characteristic delicacies of Nanjing. After visiting the exhibitions in museums and art galleries, one can participate in parent-child study Tours. One can also enjoy the pleasure of leisure shopping in addition to watching sports events. Didi Chuxing will also launch discounted taxi-hailing activities during the event period. With a rich variety of event contents, it will meet the diverse needs of different groups of people and further stimulate consumption vitality. In July, there will be a match between Nanjing and Suzhou in the Scottish Premier League during the Cultural Tourism Festival. Fans are welcome to participate in the Cultural Tourism Festival activities.

The mutual promotion and tourism activities among the Nanjing Metropolitan Area and key tourist source cities are an important part of this cultural and tourism festival. Nanjing will join hands with the cities in the metropolitan area and key cooperative cities such as Yining, Xining, Zhangjiajie and Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture to promote the normalization of cultural and tourism cooperation among cities through forms such as special promotion, new media co-creation, platform mutual promotion, resource complementarity and mutual sending of tourists, and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. Through resource sharing and complementary advantages, Nanjing and other cities will jointly create more attractive tourism products and routes, enhance the overall competitiveness of the regional cultural and tourism industry, and bring tourists a richer and more convenient travel experience.

From June 12th to June 13th, from 17:00 to 21:00, the "Beautiful Scenery, Delicious Food, Beautiful Things, Beautiful Life - Trendy Play Market" will be held. The market site will jointly set up activity areas such as food, intangible cultural heritage, cultural and creative products, and check-in markets with the cultural and tourism departments of the Nanjing Metropolitan Area and key cooperative cities. It will also arrange cultural and tourism recommendations and wonderful performances from each city. Tourists can taste local delicacies from all over the country, purchase characteristic products (cultural and creative products of various cities and peripheral products of the 2025 Jiangsu Province Urban Football League), experience traditional culture and feel the fashion and vitality of Nanjing here.

During the Cultural Tourism Festival, a series of activities for Chinese and foreign teenagers to study and travel in Nanjing will also be held. Nanjing will invite Chinese and foreign teenagers to carry out a series of study Tours in the city. Through visiting historical sites, experiencing traditional culture, and participating in interactive courses, it aims to enhance communication and understanding between Chinese and foreign teenagers and promote the brand of "Study Tour Nanjing Growth Travel". At the same time, by leveraging the characteristics of teenagers' love for sharing, ability to spread and high forwarding rate, a secondary dissemination of Nanjing's study Tours can be formed, adding new energy to Nanjing's tourism.

The preparations for the 2025 Nanjing Cultural Tourism Festival have been basically completed, and all activities are ready to go. Nanjing sincerely invites guests from all directions to visit the ancient city of Jinling and experience the unique charm of "Hello Nanjing · Read 'Ning' a Thousand Times without Getting Tired". Through this cultural and tourism festival, Nanjing will further showcase its profound historical and cultural heritage, unique natural scenery and diverse humanistic customs, providing tourists with unforgettable cultural and tourism experiences and promoting the high-quality development of Nanjing's cultural and tourism industry.

Source: Nanjing Culture and Tourism