The Shandong Provincial Government Information Office hosts a news conference on July 18 to release the implantation plan of the third Shandong Cultural Consumption Season. [Photo/sdnews.com.cn]

The third Shandong Cultural Consumption Season is set to kick off on July 23 and will last until October. It has been planned with guidance funds of more than 100 million yuan ($14.53 million) and designed to promote spending on cultural products in the province.

The Shandong Provincial Government Information Office held a news conference on July 18 to release the implantation plan, which includes general requirements, the main framework, and safeguard measures for the activity.

The cultural carnival will open in Nishan Holy Land, Qufu, and will then be jointly celebrated in the province's various administrative divisions.

The theme for the event is "integrating culture and tourism to benefit life." It will feature an enriched activity program with more organizational highlights.

Zhang Kun, deputy director of the Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, revealed that this year's Cultural Consumption Season has improved and innovated in the following aspects:

The first is to deeply integrate culture and tourism. Shandong finds it is best to combine tourism with culture in order to develop both, so consumption of the integrated industries becomes one of the expected highlights of the event.

Local industry players have actively signed up to participate in the cultural consumption season, and currently 128 national 3A level and above tourist attractions and enterprises have gotten involved.

They will organize a series of themed cultural tourism activities, launch boutique cultural tourism routes and study tour travel routes, as well as experiment with tourism products recommended by tour groups. The aim is to promote Shandong’s cultural and tourism products and services to attract more consumers.

The second is to vigorously serve rural revitalization. This year's event will also focus on bringing culture to the countryside, which is an important way of serving rural revitalization.

Specifically, Shandong will extensively carry out cultural activities in the countryside, provide rural residents with consumption subsidies, as well as promote the development of the rural cultural industry and rural tourism.

Platforms and enterprises participating in the consumption season will be encouraged to set up physical and virtual stores, as well as other channels to support consumers in poverty-stricken areas.

Cultural products and tourism destinations in these areas will also be publicized to help create a source of income for those living under the poverty line.

The third is the linkage of online and offline platforms. Participating enterprises that adopt an online-and-offline integrated business model are expected to attract a large number of consumers, who will be driven by the considerable subsidies provided to them.

Efforts have been made on constructing a cloud consumption service platform, which will rely on e-commerce platforms and public welfare cultural activity platforms that have signed contracts with the organizers.

Offline activities will be organized at various cultural tourism scenic spots, cultural consumption gathering areas, cultural venues, theaters, bookstores, cultural and sports squares, as well as other sites.

On the agenda are cultural tourism products exhibitions and promotion of public welfare cultural activities. Consumers can scan QR codes provided at the site to shop online, as well as obtain coupons and subsidies, according to an organizer.