Recently, the 2025 First International Travel Service Conference and Trade Fair, themed "Free Trade Port Core Power, New Blue Ocean for Culture and Tourism", was successfully held in Sanya, Hainan Province. It was hosted by the China Travel Service Association and co-hosted by China Travel Service Group. The event attracted over 200 high-quality resource providers from more than 20 countries and regions around the world, and nearly 2,000 travel service enterprises participated. At this highly anticipated industry event, Ms. Man Xiaoxia, the deputy secretary of the Party Committee and general manager of Qinghai Xikang Culture and Tourism Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as "Xikang Culture and Tourism"), systematically expounded on the practices of Xikang Culture and Tourism in the creative development of natural resources and the exploration of the study tour market at the sharing session titled "New Ecosystem of Study Tours - Boundary-Breaking Collaboration and Linking the Future" The "Xikang Plan" it has launched, which takes the two unique resources of the Chaka Salt Lake in Qinghai and the Yiwu Poplar in Xinjiang as its dual cores, and balances protection and development, as well as educational and market-oriented aspects, has attracted extensive attention and reflection from the industry.

Chaka Salt Lake: "Mirror of the Sky" - The Thousand-year-old salt crystals Reflect a New Chapter of Cultural Tourism

As a benchmark scenic spot under Xikang Culture and Tourism, Chaka Salt Lake has long been renowned both at home and abroad for its spectacular "Mirror of the Sky" where the water and the sky blend into one. However, Xikang Culture and Tourism did not stop at presenting the natural scenery. Instead, with a profound strategic vision, it delved deeply into the rich connotations contained in this salt lake. The company adheres to the guidance of the green development concept, actively integrates into the construction of Qinghai Province as an "International Ecotourism destination", and positions Chaka Salt Lake as a highly integrated interdisciplinary learning scene that combines "natural science + humanistic history + environmental protection education + practical experience".

Here, the ancient salt-mining techniques, unique geological structures, rich salt industry culture and poetic ecological environment together form excellent materials for study Tours. Through the creative hand of "revitalizing industrial heritage", Xikang Culture and Tourism has transformed and upgraded the thousand-year-old salt production line into a lively and interesting "Sky Classroom". Not only can you enjoy the magnificent scenery, but also gain a deeper understanding of the formation and mining history of salt, perceive the changes in industrial civilization, establish ecological protection awareness, and appreciate the mysteries of nature and science through hands-on practice. It is precisely this upgrade from "static appreciation" to "in-depth value exploration" that has enabled Chaka Salt Lake to be awarded the title of "Top Ten Quality Research and Study Service Institutions" in 2023 and become a member of the "Yellow River Basin Alliance", successfully achieving a magnificent transformation from a tourist destination to a research and study highland.

Yiwu Poplar: The spiritual Immersion from "Ten-Thousand-Year Poplar" to "Four-Season Study Tour"

If the Chaka Salt Lake demonstrates the creative transformation of salt lake resources by Xikang Culture and Tourism, then the Yiwu Poplar Scenic Area in Xinjiang reflects the in-depth exploration of the cultural spirit of the poplar. Yiwu Poplar, as the first four-season poplar scenic area, itself carries the themes of tenacious life and eternal time. Xikang Culture and Tourism accurately grasped its characteristics and developed it into a national base (camp) for study Tours, a national science popularization education base, and a practical base for the education of the poplar spirit.

Xikang Culture and Tourism, driven by "ecological protection creativity", breaks through the traditional model, integrates knowledge from seven major disciplines including ecology, geology, intangible cultural heritage, and astrophysics, and takes the life cycle of the poplar as the main line to build a characteristic course system with "poplar spirit" as the core, "knowledge chain + experience chain" as the dual drivers, and covering three major customer groups: study Tours, health care, and team building.

Innovatively creating a full-scene immersive experience, it adopts a dual experience mode of "daytime real-scene teaching + nighttime starry sky theater", with an average of 8 hours of immersive study Tours per day, which has been widely praised. In addition, the flexible course design fully meets diverse demands, demonstrating the forward-looking and flexible nature of Xikang Culture and Tourism in the development of study tour products. It has successfully upgraded this ten-thousand-year-old poplar forest into a meaningful "Four-season study Tour field" that can operate throughout the year.

Dual-wheel drive, providing a sustainable development "Xikang Solution"

With the two highly representative natural resources of "salt lake" and "poplar" in hand, Xikang Culture and Tourism has explored a practical path that takes "protection as the premise, creativity as the link, and study Tours as the handle". Through the dual drive of "industrial heritage revitalization" and "ecological protection creativity", the advantages of natural resources have been ingeniously transformed into the advantages of study Tours and education. This not only responds to the market's demand for the attractiveness of tourism products but also adheres to the professional depth and public welfare nature of study Tours and education.

This practice effectively balances the relationship among the sustainable utilization of natural resources, the realization of the value of study Tours and education, and the transformation of market benefits, achieving an organic unity of social benefits, ecological benefits and economic benefits. Xikang Culture and Tourism, with its successful exploration, has provided feasible paths and reference solutions.

The wonderful sharing at this International Travel Service Conference not only showcased the rich achievements of Xikang Culture and Tourism in the integration of culture and tourism and the innovation of study Tours, but also highlighted its strength in the comprehensive development and utilization of ecological tourism resources. The practice of Xikang Culture and Tourism shows that delving deeply into the connotations of natural resources, empowering with creativity, and breaking boundaries through study Tours are precisely the keys to driving the culture and tourism industry into a new blue ocean and injecting "core" power.