Wu Guoping, deputy to the 13th National People's Congress and chairman of Wuxi Lingshan Cultural Tourism Group [Photo/wxrb.com]

According to the two national sessions, last year Chinese citizens made more than 5.5 billion domestic trips, with an average of four trips per person, suggesting that China has entered the era of mass tourism.

Luo Shugang, minister of culture and tourism, said that with the number of overseas trips made by citizens last year reaching 150 million, China has become the largest source of tourists in the world.

In an interview, Wu Guoping, deputy to the 13th National People's Congress and chairman of Wuxi Lingshan Cultural Tourism Group, offered his take on the future of Chinese tourism.

He told the press that high-quality tourism products matter in the "golden time" of the Chinese tourism market.

Nianhua Bay is a modern Buddhist resort at Wuxi's Lingshan Buddhist scenic spot, East China's Jiangsu province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Promoting the integration of culture and tourism is one of the suggestions that Wu Guoping brought to this year's two sessions. The model of fusing culture and travel represented by Lingshan and Nianhua Bay is also being copied and promoted in more places.

Last year, Wuxi Lingshan Cultural Tourism Group invested in Shangdong's Qufu and Shaanxi's Hanzhong to build scenic spots based on traditional Chinese culture – Confucius in Shandong province and the culture of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) in Shaanxi province.

"Visitors can experience traditional culture in life beyond books and historical records," Wu said. "Instead of merely taking a quick glance at tourist spots, more tourists are willing to make an in-depth tour and that's where the biggest opportunity lies."

Wuxi Lingshan Cultural Tourism Group will begin to build a level-up Nianhua Bay in Yixing's Zhoutie town this year, and it is expected to open in three to five years.

While Wuxi city is supporting the integrative development of Wuxi, Jiangyin and Yixing, the opening of the Yima (Yixing-Mashan) Fast Track is also expected to help tourism develop in the city.