Beijing, the World Heritage Capital

This March, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism organized the cultural and tourism promotion event "Hello Beijing" in Budapest, attracting nearly a hundred participants, including tourism professionals, journalists and travel bloggers. The event provided a detailed presentation of Beijing's rich cultural and tourism potential, highlighting the city’s eight World Heritage Sites. For Diplomacy&Trade, a Member of the Board of the Beijing Bureau of Culture and Tourism, Chang Lin summarized why people find it worth visiting the capital of the People’s Republic of China.

Beijing has a history stretching back over 3,000 years. The city, known as one of the world's greatest historical and cultural treasures, received a special recognition in 2024: its central boulevard in the downtown area became the eighth site in the city to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. This road crisscrosses Beijing for 7.8 kilometers, representing the historical, cultural and architectural heart of the city and reflecting over 700 years of urban planning. The central axis road symbolizes China's traditional imperial layout and cosmic harmony.

Facilitating inbound tourism
The "Hello Beijing" event also showcased new opportunities and facilitations for inbound tourists. Among others, visitors' customs clearance is made more convenient with a simplified one-stop shop for clearance and border control. Beijing Services airport service points, launched in 2024, help foreign visitors with payment, transport and communication. A new innovation simplifies banking and SIM card access. It also offers transit passengers a free half-day city tour with guided experiences, transport and internet access. To the particular interest of the participants, the Budapest-Beijing direct flights were also presented by representatives of Air China, China Eastern Airlines and Hainan Airlines.
The event in the Hungarian capital was not just about lectures: participants were also able to experience Beijing's cultural values in practice. The photo exhibition of Beijing's cultural attractions and the traditional Chinese handicrafts programs were a great success. Guests were able to participate in the making of the twelve zodiac tickets, admire the masterpieces of the silk doll workshop and taste the famous Beijing jasmine tea. But the biggest thrill was the raffle draw, where the grand prize was a three-night, four-day trip to Beijing.

Doors open to Hungarian tourists
Commenting on the Budapest event, Chang Lin, Member of the Board of the Beijing Bureau of Culture and Tourism, said at the promotion event that "Beijing, the city of hospitality and beauty, is an ancient city with a world-renowned rich cultural heritage, and an open, diverse and vibrant international metropolis.”
Visa-free travel is a major advantage for Hungarian tourists, which has led to more and more people choosing Beijing as their travel destination. According to Chang Lin, "these visa-free measures have significantly facilitated personal and cultural relations between our two countries." He was of the view that the success of the "Hello Beijing!" event showed that the Hungarian public is showing a growing interest in Chinese culture. “Beijing's doors are open to Hungarian tourists, who are guaranteed to have an unforgettable experience exploring this wonderful city.”

Providing a lot of information
Beijing is therefore very easily and relatively simply accessible for Hungarian tourists and ingenious corporate travelers, but there is still work to be done, as there is still a relatively large lack of information about the destination, not only about Beijing but also about other provinces in China. As Chang Lin pointed out to Diplomacy&Trade, “we are here to solve this problem. We have brought a lot of information with us and then, we also send information about traveling to China through a lot of media, through social media accounts. In my opinion, it is not such a big problem nowadays because there are so many channels and then, we also have so many media accounts and we can send information about Beijing and other cities in China through these.”
The question is how it is possible to make the city, the destination, more attractive not only for individual tourists, but also for the corporate segment since – because of the proximity of Shanghai, Shenzhen or Hong Kong – there is a lot of competition as regards attracting visitors. “As I mentioned in my speech, there are actually many attractions in Beijing that are not found in other cities. There's a lot of information on our website, that is, on the Beijing bureau website, about exactly why Beijing is a good destination for Hungarians and other foreign travelers. You can also find there our plans for 2025 and 2026,” the Member of the Board of the Beijing Bureau of Culture and Tourism said.

A historic and modern city
He added that the city of Beijing has a long and rich history that dates back over 3,000 years. Early humans could be found in that area already hundreds of thousands of years ago while paleolithic homo sapiens also lived in the caves there from about 27,000 to 10,000 years ago. Thousands-of-years-old man-made and man-used tools and buildings can be seen in Beijing, as much of these times have been preserved in Beijing's Old City.
Today's Beijing is a very modern and fashionable city. The look and feel of the buildings are very modern. The latest developments began before the 2008 Summer Olympics. In 2022, the Winter Olympics were held there, making Beijing the only city in the world to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics.
There are more than ten, or even a hundred, business districts in Beijing where people can eat and have fun. Every day, there are more than 200 cultural performances in Beijing.
He highlighted that Beijing's subway system is also very well developed, and this is another way to get to attractions very quickly. Foreigners can pay with their credit cards on the subway.
“However, the Old City and the modern city are only a very small part of what people coming to Beijing should visit. China has a lot of high-speed trains that can travel at speeds of over 300 km/h, so you can get to many places very quickly, such as the Summer Palace of the Kings or the locations of different sports at the Winter Olympics, to name just a few of the many attractions. Within an hour, you can reach basically anything: forest, sea and many other destinations,” Chang Lin concluded.