Dai Bin | Make Good Use of Red Resources to Promote High-Quality Development of Red Tourism

Dai Bin, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and president of the China Tourism Academy, was invited to publish an article entitled "Making Good Use of Red Resources to Promote High-Quality Development of Red Tourism" in the 5th issue of *Party Building* in 2026. The article clarifies the important significance of promoting the high-quality development of red tourism from a theoretical perspective, systematically analyzes the new situation and tasks currently faced, and constructs a practical path for promoting the high-quality development of red tourism. The full text is shared below: Our Party attaches great importance to the development of red tourism, regarding it as an important carrier for inheriting the red gene and continuing the red lineage. Making good use of red resources and inheriting the red gene are important requirements for promoting the development of red tourism, and we are coordinating the protection and utilization of red resources with the high-quality development of red tourism. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, my country's tourism development has entered a fast track, and the development of red tourism has achieved remarkable results. It has become an important channel for promoting red culture, an important force for promoting the economic transformation and upgrading of old revolutionary base areas, and an important means for the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas. Its political, social, and economic benefits are constantly becoming more prominent. Faced with the new opportunities and challenges of the deep integration of culture and tourism, the new demands and expectations of the people for high-quality red tourism products, and the new situation and tasks of accelerating the construction of a tourism powerhouse and a cultural powerhouse, we must thoroughly study and implement Xi Jinping's thought on culture, fully implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions on tourism work and red tourism, deeply understand the important significance of promoting the high-quality development of red tourism, actively respond to the requirements of the times and market demands, and further promote the high-quality development of red tourism.

I. Deeply Understanding the Significance of Promoting High-Quality Development of Red Tourism Red tourism possesses distinct characteristics such as ideological education, cultural dissemination, and development empowerment. Promoting the high-quality development of red tourism is both a mission and a requirement of the times and an inevitable choice based on the new situation and tasks, thus holding significant importance. Promoting the high-quality development of red tourism is an important requirement for inheriting the red gene and continuing the red lineage. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping has visited revolutionary holy sites, red historical sites, and revolutionary historical memorial sites multiple times, emphasizing the need to "make good use of red resources, inherit the red gene, and pass on the red regime from generation to generation." Red tourism combines the spiritual core of red culture with the practical characteristics of tourism experience. It is an important platform for promoting revolutionary traditions, tempering Party spirit, and凝聚精神力量 (coagulating spiritual strength), and an important carrier for inheriting the red gene and continuing the red lineage. Red tourism uses revolutionary sites and memorial halls as real-life classrooms, transforming the written revolutionary history into a tangible and immersive experience, allowing Party members, cadres, and the masses to deeply understand the Party's original aspiration and mission through edutainment. In recent years, red tourism has been continuously innovating and gaining popularity. Various regions have deeply explored red cultural resources, attracting broad participation from different age groups and demographics through diverse forms such as in-depth integration with cadre education and training, youth study tours, and the creation of immersive and experiential red cultural tourism scenarios. The value guidance and cultural education functions of red tourism have become increasingly prominent. Viewing red exhibitions, listening to red stories, and participating in immersive red performances have become important ways for Party members to learn Party history and strengthen their Party spirit, and vivid classrooms for cadres and the masses to inherit the red gene and receive the baptism of the red spirit. Promoting the high-quality development of red tourism is an important engine for achieving common prosperity and empowering development. The tourism industry has both economic and social benefits, and is a typical industry related to people's livelihood and happiness. Its development is closely linked to upstream and downstream industries such as transportation and accommodation, exhibiting broad connections and strong driving forces. As an important component of the tourism industry, promoting the high-quality development of red tourism can stimulate the endogenous driving force of regional economic and social development with a strong industrial linkage effect, helping local industrial upgrading and improving people's livelihoods. In recent years, various regions, based on their local red cultural resources and combined with the realities of their characteristic industries, have adhered to the principles of upholding tradition while innovating and integrating development, continuously enriching the forms of red tourism products and extending the industrial chain. Models such as "red tourism + rural revitalization" and "red tourism + study tours" are rapidly iterating, and the role of red tourism in enriching people and increasing their income has become increasingly prominent, making it an important engine for driving local economic and social development and activating regional development vitality. The red tourism market has strong demand and broad development prospects. Promoting the high-quality development of red tourism can not only continuously attract more high-quality tourists, drive the coordinated development of all links in the industrial chain, and promote the efficient aggregation of industrial elements, but also drive employment and broaden income channels through industrial development, injecting inexhaustible power into solidly promoting common prosperity and high-quality development. Promoting the high-quality development of red tourism is an essential part of building a culturally strong nation and a tourism powerhouse. Building a culturally strong nation and a tourism powerhouse puts forward new requirements and higher standards for promoting the high-quality development of red tourism, and the high-quality development of red tourism also injects important impetus into the construction of a culturally strong nation and a tourism powerhouse. Building a tourism powerhouse requires not only the continuous expansion of the tourism industry's scale, but also emphasizes the comprehensive improvement of development quality and the deep manifestation of cultural connotations. As an important form of cultural tourism that combines spiritual value and industrial attributes, red tourism is a crucial aspect and key support for accelerating the construction of a strong tourism nation. With red culture at its core, red tourism is not only an important carrier for inheriting the red gene and凝聚民族精神 (coagulating national spirit), but also a vital tool for promoting the upgrading of the tourism industry, enriching the supply of distinctive tourism products, building Chinese cultural tourism brands, and showcasing the unique characteristics of Chinese cultural tourism. Its development level is related to the cultural depth and distinctiveness of the construction of a strong tourism nation. Promoting the high-quality development of red tourism can further deepen the integration of culture and tourism, activate the driving force of industrial development, drive the coordinated development of upstream and downstream industries, and help the tourism industry transform and upgrade towards high quality and diversification. At the same time, it can better achieve the organic unity of economic and social benefits, allowing tourism development to possess both industrial vitality and spiritual warmth, and promoting the tourism industry towards a higher quality and more sustainable direction. II. New Situation and New Tasks Facing the High-Quality Development of Red Tourism Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, red tourism has achieved remarkable results and is currently in a critical stage of upgrading and improving its quality. Against the backdrop of upgrading market demand, accelerated deep integration of culture and tourism, and the accelerated pace of building a strong tourism nation, promoting the high-quality development of red tourism faces the following new situation and new tasks. Upgrading market demand puts forward new requirements for the high-quality development of red tourism. In recent years, with the continuous enrichment of people's spiritual and cultural needs and the strengthening of their cultural confidence, the whole society's emotional and value recognition of red culture has been continuously enhanced, resulting in a vast market space and strong development momentum for red tourism. Currently, people's consumption demands for red tourism are no longer limited to simple visits and sightseeing, but exhibit characteristics such as a greater emphasis on immersive scene experiences, deeper understanding of red culture, and personalized and customized tourism experiences. At the same time, the red tourism consumer group is constantly expanding, with young people becoming an important participant group, and the participation of families with children and study tour groups also continuously increasing, highlighting the diversified, personalized, and youthful characteristics of the red tourism market. These significant changes in market demand place higher demands on the high-quality development of red tourism. To promote the high-quality development of red tourism, it is essential to accurately grasp the new trends and changes in market demand, better adapt to market needs, and achieve high-quality and intrinsic development. The deep integration of culture and tourism presents new tasks for the high-quality development of red tourism. This deep integration is profoundly reshaping the development mode and supply structure of the tourism industry, with "using culture to shape tourism and using tourism to highlight culture" becoming an important requirement for promoting the high-quality development of the tourism industry. Under the trend of deep integration of culture and tourism, red tourism has actively innovated, and the "red tourism+" development has achieved remarkable results. However, there are still problems such as insufficient exploration and interpretation of the connotation of red culture, awkward integration of red cultural elements with tourism experiences, some red tourism projects emphasizing commercial development while neglecting spiritual inheritance, and lagging development of red cultural and creative products. To promote the high-quality development of red tourism, it is necessary to deeply understand the new situation and new requirements of the deep integration of culture and tourism, plan and lay out the development with the idea of ​​integrated development, further explore effective measures to deeply explore the spiritual core and contemporary value of red culture, continuously enhance its attractiveness and appeal, give full play to the dissemination advantages of red tourism, and truly make red culture "move," "come alive," and "become popular." The construction of a tourism powerhouse has put forward new challenges for the high-quality development of red tourism. To accelerate the construction of a tourism powerhouse, it is necessary to improve the modern tourism industry system, comprehensively promote the high-quality development of the tourism industry, and further highlight the important role of the tourism industry in building a spiritual home and showcasing China's image. As an important aspect of the construction of a tourism powerhouse, red tourism is facing new development challenges. In recent years, with strong support from national policies, my country has gradually built a red tourism development pattern that combines starting points, lines, and surfaces, comprehensively covering key areas of red culture. The scale and influence of red tourism have continued to increase, but it still faces problems such as an imbalance between the protection and development of red resources, insufficient resource integration, inadequate integration of business formats, an imperfect supporting system, and insufficient brand building for red tourism. It still falls short of the requirements for building a strong tourism nation. To promote the high-quality development of red tourism, we must base our planning on the overall framework of building a strong tourism nation, fully understand the new requirements for the high-quality development of red tourism put forward by the construction of a strong tourism nation, continuously enhance the competitiveness of red tourism, and continuously improve the dissemination and international influence of red culture. III. Practical Paths to Promote the High-Quality Development of Red Tourism General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that we should "focus on improving the modern tourism industry system, accelerate the construction of a strong tourism nation, and enable the tourism industry to better serve a better life, promote economic development, build a spiritual home, showcase China's image, and enhance mutual learning among civilizations." The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee made an important deployment to "promote the construction of a strong tourism nation, enrich the supply of high-quality tourism products, and improve the quality of tourism services." In the new era and on the new journey, we must adhere to integrity and innovation, adhere to a problem-oriented approach, and further promote the high-quality development of red tourism. We must adhere to the correct direction and highlight the distinctive characteristics of red tourism. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "the guiding ideology for developing red tourism must be correct, the construction of tourism facilities must complement red memorial facilities, and it must be grounded in the realities of red commemoration," and that "the fundamental nature of red tourism cannot be lost." Red is the fundamental color of red tourism and its most distinctive feature. To promote the high-quality development of red tourism, it is essential to adhere to the correct political direction and value orientation, earnestly shoulder the responsibility and mission of showcasing red resources, telling red stories, promoting the red spirit, and passing on the red gene, allowing visitors to experience the people, objects, and spirit through edutainment. We must respect history, resolutely eliminate historical nihilism, accurately and deeply interpret the rich connotations and contemporary value of revolutionary culture, and safeguard the authenticity and seriousness of history. We must integrate socialist core values ​​into all aspects of red tourism development, incorporating the great spirit of the founding of the Party and the great spirit formed by the Party and the people in their struggles throughout various historical periods into route design, exhibitions, explanations, and experiences, allowing tourists to appreciate the red spirit and cultivate a deep sense of patriotism during their visits, ensuring that red tourism development remains on track and does not deviate from its intended path. We must uphold integrity and innovation, making good use of red cultural resources. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized the need to "deeply explore and utilize the educational function and tourism value of red cultural resources." my country possesses abundant and widely distributed red cultural resources. To promote the high-quality development of red tourism, innovative thinking is needed to stimulate the contemporary value and development vitality of these resources. We must further enhance the systematic and professional nature of the protection and utilization of red cultural resources, strengthen the protection of revolutionary cultural relics, and promote the construction of digital archives for red culture and a large database of red cultural relics resources, laying a solid foundation for the development of red tourism resources and projects. We must delve deeper into the connotations of red culture, further improve the quality of memorial facilities and exhibitions, enrich the content of explanations, and actively develop high-quality red study tours, red cultural and creative products, and other perceptible and experiential red tourism products. We must break through the bottlenecks of monotonous content and rigid forms, continuously exerting efforts in areas such as innovative discourse, scene creation, product planning, and service improvement. We must adhere to technological empowerment, actively utilizing new technologies such as AI, VR, and AR to panoramically recreate revolutionary scenes and create digital red exhibition halls, allowing tourists to experience red culture and inherit the red gene through immersive experiences, promoting red culture from historical records and museum displays into the lives of the public and integrating it into contemporary development. We must adhere to a systemic perspective and build a red tourism industry ecosystem. Further improving the distinctive and complete red tourism market system and building a red tourism industry ecosystem are crucial supports for promoting the high-quality development of red tourism. It is essential to connect all links in the upstream and downstream of the industry chain, using red culture as the core, and promoting deep collaboration and integration of red tourism in resource development, service operation, and consumption expansion, transforming red resources into a full-chain industrial advantage. We must firmly establish a brand development concept, creating high-quality red IPs based on regional red cultural characteristics, cultivating red tourism brands with Chinese characteristics, and actively integrating into the international cultural and tourism exchange landscape, making red tourism an important window for telling China's story and showcasing China's style. We must improve the red tourism service system, continuously improve infrastructure such as roads and visitor centers, promote the construction of "Internet + red tourism," strengthen the training and education of practitioners, and comprehensively improve service capabilities such as interpretation and reception. We must regulate the red tourism market order, conduct regular market inspections and special rectification actions, improve industry self-regulation mechanisms, cultivate a market ecosystem of honest operation and fair competition, effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of tourists, and create a favorable market environment for the high-quality development of red tourism. We must adhere to planning guidance and strengthen resource integration and coordination. Currently, China has established 10 national pilot units for the integrated development of red tourism, 18 key red tourism cities, 12 key red tourism areas, 100 high-quality red tourism routes, and 300 classic red tourism scenic spots, forming a spatial pattern and support system for the development of red tourism in the new era. To promote the high-quality development of red tourism, it is necessary to strengthen top-level design and enhance policy coordination, further improve supporting policies and relevant regulations, formulate a special plan for red tourism development, and clarify key tasks and implementation paths. It is also necessary to optimize project planning and layout, explore cross-regional cooperation models for red tourism routes, create national high-quality red tourism routes based on the Long March National Cultural Park, and focus on building a number of innovative integrated red tourism projects based on new urbanization and the construction of beautiful villages. Furthermore, it is essential to innovate mechanisms for social participation, encourage and guide social capital and market entities to participate in the development and operation of red tourism, and explore new models for red tourism development. Finally, it is crucial to improve the monitoring system for red tourism development, focusing on aspects such as red tourism product development, tourist flow, service quality, resource protection, and important public opinion, using big data and cloud computing for real-time collection and analysis to form a closed-loop system of dynamic monitoring, scientific evaluation, and precise feedback, resolutely safeguarding the red lines of ideological security, cultural security, and ecological protection. Author | Dai Bin Source | Party Building Magazine, Issue 5, 2026 Please indicate the author and source when reprinting.