China's Dunhuang International Cultural Tourism City Nominated for Global Smart City Award, Gaining Global Popularity

News from Barcelona, Spain: On November 16, 2016, at the 6th Global Smart City Expo held in Barcelona, Spain, China's Dunhuang was honored with the 2016 Global Smart City Expo "Smart City Nomination Award," making it the first city in China to win this international award in the smart city domain. This follows the successful hosting of the first Silk Road (Dunhuang) International Cultural Expo in Dunhuang, China, bringing Dunhuang back into the global spotlight, with the Dunhuang International Cultural Tourism City once again capturing worldwide attention.

According to reports, the Global Smart City Awards include three categories: City Award, Project Award, and Innovation Award. Each year, hundreds of proposals from smart city experts around the world are received. These prestigious awards aim to recognize, promote, and support innovative solutions and strategies in the global smart city construction field. At the 2016 Global Smart City Expo, after rigorous screening of over 600 proposals, six cities stood out and were awarded the 2016 Global Smart City Nomination Award: China's Dunhuang, New York (USA), Moscow (Russia), Pune (India), Seoul (South Korea), and Hollands Kroon (Netherlands). After intense competition, New York (USA) ultimately won the "Global Smart City Award."

The Global Smart City Expo is currently the world's largest exhibition themed around smart cities. It is jointly organized and initiated by the Spanish government, the World Bank, and others, enjoying an outstanding reputation worldwide. Global leading ICT companies such as IBM, Huawei, Microsoft, SAP, Cisco, AWS, Siemens, and Amazon participate, aiming to lead global smart city development and construction, and to attract global smart city decision-makers, builders, and suppliers to exchange ideas and spark innovative solutions.

China's Dunhuang, with the theme "Smart Tourism Leading Smart City Construction to Promote Silk Road Tourism Development," received unanimous praise from global smart city experts, judges, businesses, and institutions. The honor of the Global Smart City Nomination Award fully affirms Dunhuang's significant contributions to smart city construction and the promotion of Silk Road tourism development.

The Dunhuang Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government attach great importance to smart city construction. The "Dunhuang International Cultural Tourism City Construction Development Plan Outline" identifies the smart city platform project as a key component, progressing step-by-step according to the principles of planning first, government guidance, market operation, and phased implementation. The Municipal Party Committee and Government established Dunhuang Smart Tourism Co., Ltd. as the implementing entity for Dunhuang's smart tourism and smart city construction. Building on the company’s operations, it has accomplished the informatization construction and maintenance of 6 provinces and cities along the Silk Road, 31 destinations, and over 150 scenic spots, permeating various aspects of tourists' travel, accommodation, entertainment, and consumption. Leveraging internet technology, it focuses on the interconnected development of tourism resources across the entire industry.

The planned "Smart Dunhuang" project in Dunhuang includes "One Center, Nine Major Sections, and Thirty-One Projects." The "One Center" refers to the Smart Dunhuang "Feitian" Cloud Computing Center, which consists of three foundational platforms: public basic network, public information platform, and public information database. The "Nine Major Sections" include two featured sections—Smart Culture and Smart Tourism—as well as seven foundational sections: Smart Social Services, Smart Government Affairs, Smart Planning and Management, Smart Construction Management, Smart Transportation, Smart Ecology, and Smart Homes. Through years of exploration and practice, Dunhuang has forged a development path of "Smart Tourism Leading Industrial-Type Smart City Construction."

To realize the smart city construction plan, Dunhuang has joined forces with Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. and Gansu Broadcasting Network Co., Ltd. to comprehensively build a cloud computing center and Wi-Fi and fiber-optic networks covering the entire oasis. The cloud center connects business systems such as public security, transportation, emergency command, urban management, and tourism through a big data platform. Data sharing enables the entire city of Dunhuang to achieve unified office operations, rapid decision-making, quick responses to urban management issues, and efficient, timely handling of public safety, traffic, and social emergencies.

Starting in 2014, Dunhuang Smart Tourism was launched comprehensively and developed rapidly. Combining the Internet+ initiative, it created an "Online Dunhuang" and "Smart Scenic Area," quickly establishing a new smart tourism model that integrates cultural tourism with information technology and links online promotion with offline operations. This achieved a magnificent transformation of traditional Dunhuang tourism into smart tourism, becoming a distinctive, replicable, and scalable "Dunhuang Experience." The experience of Dunhuang Smart Tourism is prominently reflected in three major systems. First is the intelligent promotion and display system. It established Dunhuang tourism official websites, Weibo, WeChat, and other "Dunhuang Online Service Windows." Through online channels like Baidu and Sina, images, texts, and videos about Dunhuang are uploaded and updated daily, helping more people learn about, aspire to visit, and explore Dunhuang via the internet. Second is the intelligent marketing and transaction system. Collaborating with e-commerce platforms such as Tmall and JD.com, and multiple online service providers like Ctrip and Meituan, it enabled online sales of scenic spot tickets, hotels, and local specialties. Notably, it developed the local e-commerce trading platform "Tuoxing Network" and launched the Dunhuang homestay brand "Camel Castle," broadening marketing channels, revitalizing idle resources, benefiting local merchants and residents, and better meeting tourist needs. Third is the intelligent management and service system. Online reservation platforms, 24/7 online consultation, industry data analysis, and more... Through online reservations, payments, and dispatching, it helps tourism management departments obtain more comprehensive and accurate industry information, while also enabling tourists to enjoy smoother and more convenient travel experiences.

The great historical opportunity presented by the 2016 first Silk Road (Dunhuang) International Cultural Expo allowed Dunhuang Smart Tourism and smart city construction to enter another period of rapid development. Adhering to intensive construction, industrialized operation, and full-industry application, Dunhuang implemented information projects such as Wireless City, Public Information Platform, Spatial Geographic Information Platform, and Integrated Payments, further facilitating the integration of the city’s information resources, business collaboration, and data sharing. During the Expo, Dunhuang—the renowned national historical and cultural city—showcased to the world not only timeless historical memories like the Mogao Caves, Yangguan, and Yumenguan, but also high-speed experiences built upon big data and cloud platforms.

Currently, Dunhuang’s wireless Wi-Fi coverage can accommodate over 30,000 tourists simultaneously. The entire city offers smart services at scenic spots, where visitors can use paperless tickets to enter. The Mogao Caves’ reservation system and dome theater both employ the latest and most advanced immersive technologies. Background music is available throughout scenic areas, and electronic fences have been installed around the Mingsha Mountain · Crescent Lake scenic area to automatically remind tourists to stay safe while reducing management costs. All shops in Dunhuang support mobile payments such as WeChat Pay and Alipay.

In addition, under the concept of "Safe City" construction, Dunhuang has established smart management institutions—the Dunhuang Social Management Center and Monitoring Operations Command Center—integrating the command and monitoring functions and application systems of departments such as public security, transportation, transport management, and law enforcement. This has built an intelligent, secure, and efficient urban operational information management system.

The Dunhuang delegation was invited to attend the expo, discussing the bright future of smart cities alongside global industry leaders. Liu Xiaofeng, General Manager of Dunhuang Smart Tourism Co., Ltd., introduced Dunhuang’s smart city construction experience, stating: "During Dunhuang’s peak tourist season, the massive influx of visitors poses severe challenges to cultural relic protection, tourism services, visitor safety, and urban management. We hope to leverage new ICT technologies, integrate urban IoT systems to build a tourism big data platform, create an 'Internet+' marketing model, deeply integrate online digital marketing with offline tourism services, and ultimately achieve smart service provision for tourists, smart management of scenic areas, and comprehensive marketing and promotion of destinations. This will facilitate the sharing of Silk Road tourism resources, achieve balanced regional economic development, and extend public services across the entire smart city construction."

Dunhuang, with its long history and profound cultural heritage, is hailed as the "Cultural Sanctuary, Human Dunhuang." Through centuries of East-West cultural exchanges, it has fostered a spirit of nobility, beauty, openness, inclusiveness, kindness, and integrity. With the continuous advancement of information technology, the Dunhuang International Cultural Tourism City is destined to soar.

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