A number of provinces across China including Sichuan held activities to celebrate the China Tourism Day on May 19.

The Sichuan celebration was hosted in Naxi District, Luzhou City with a theme of “An intoxicating Luzhou and a livable Naxi add to China’s appeal.”

30 years on since China began reform and opening-up, travel has become an indispensable spiritual need and a form of cultural life and entertainment, said Fu Yonglin, Director of Sichuan Provincial Tourism Development Commission, at the opening of the celebration.

The theme for this year’s tourism day,?“Travel makes a happier life,” is a true reflection of people’s perception of and expectation from travel, said Fu.

In recent years, to fulfill the goal of building Sichuan into a leading tourist economy of China and a major international tourist destination, the province has made the supply-side structural reform an important measure, which includes improving infrastructure, exploring new forms of operation and enhancing service level.

The efforts are paying off with tourism now playing a greater role in Sichuan’s economic growth. It has become an important force in opening Sichuan wider, boosting the province's development under the Belt and Road Initiative and alleviating poverty, said Fu.

Modern tourism not only boosts economic, cultural and social development, but lifts quality of life and makes people happier, according to the offial.

Fu also fully recognized the achievements in Naxi’s tourism industry in recent years and hoped Luzhou and its neighboring prefecture-level cities to grasp the favorable situation of integrating tourism with other industries in the province, stress tourism’s role in driving economic and social development, identify their natural and cultural characteristics and become a growth pole of tourism in south Sichuan.

Naxi has infinite fun as a tourist destination, with spring blossom, summer drifting, autumn fruit picking and winter health nourishing, said Ding Xiang, Vice Mayor of Luzhou, welcoming people to visit Luzhou, an ancient and beautiful city inhabited by simple people which is experiencing leap-frog development.

Six key tourism projects of the city were signed on the occasion.

In response to the National Tourism Administration’s call for travel agencies not to offer unreasonably-low-priced tours and to be transparent in product, there is a session during the May 19 celebration in Naxi dedicated to address the issue.

The celebration reached its height when a love song competition began.