East China's Shandong province has drawn up a slew of innovative measures to build a new image of its "Friendly Shandong" tourism brand, and promote the high-quality development of the tourism sector.

The province has accelerated its pace in cultivating a number of new culture and tourism products in recent years. The provincial culture and tourism department released a total of 436 tourism products ahead of the May Day holiday this year to embrace the fast development trend of micro-tourism, or micro-vacations, which means that people chose to spend their holidays traveling short distances.

During this year's Dragon Boat Festival holiday, local tours, short-distance leisure tours, family trips, sisterhood tours, self-driving tours, recreational vehicle tours and camping picnics fueled the tourism industry's recovery in Shandong.

Shandong has also come up with many new ideas to promote the upgrading and  transformation of the traditional tourism industry. During the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Shandong launched 12 ice and snow themed tour routes, which integrate the province's rich hot spring resources, leisure agriculture, rural tourism, and high-quality homestays. The innovative tourism products have injected new vitality into the province's tourism sector, and polished its "Friendly Shandong" tourism brand.

Efforts have also been made to boost consumption in the fields of catering, retail, and tourism. The sixth Shandong Culture and Tourism Consumption Season kicked off on June 2, and a total of 107 million yuan ($16 million) in consumption coupons were released this month, which has helped stimulate the market, unleash consumption potential and boost the sustained recovery and upgrading of consumption.

East China's Shandong province accelerates its pace in cultivating a number of new culture and tourism products to boost the high-quality development of local tourism. [Photo/VCG]

Shandong province draws up a slew of innovative measures to build a new image of its "Friendly Shandong" tourism brand. [Photo/VCG]

A panoramic view of the Yimeng Mountains in Shandong. [Photo/China Daily]