China’s travel industry has vowed to offer culture-led services during the recent annual China Service Development Forum in Tai’an, Shandong province.

Co-hosted by the China Travel Association, the Shandong Tourism Bureau and nine other organizations, the theme of this year’s forum was “Culture leads service, and service creates culture”. At the end of the forum, participating delegates jointly endorsed the Mount Taishan Declaration of China Service on the top of Mount Taishan.

According to the declaration, China is aiming to shift its image from “Made in China” to “China Service”, which must be considered a national strategy to establish a new country brand. “The travel industry is the most suitable industry to create the ‘China Service’ brand,” said Du Jiang, deputy director of the National Tourism Bureau.