From Huangshan to Hangzhou, the landscape is picturesque and the cultural heritage is resplendent. This golden corridor is home to six national 5A-level tourist attractions and over 50 national 4A-level scenic spots, connecting world-class destinations such as Xidi and Hongcun villages, the Ancient Huizhou Cultural Tourism Zone, Huangshan Scenic Area, West Lake, Xixi Wetland, and Qiandao Lake like a string of pearls. Leveraging these abundant resources, the "Construction Plan for the Hangzhou-Huangshan World-Class Natural Ecology and Cultural Tourism Corridor" was officially released in 2022, charting a new blueprint for cross-provincial cooperation between these two renowned cities. 

Over the past two years, two sessions of the Hangzhou-Huangshan World-Class Natural Ecology and Cultural Tourism Corridor Cross-Provincial Cooperation Promotion Conference have been held in succession, driving substantial breakthroughs in ecological co-protection, cultural and tourism integration, and industrial collaboration. The latest data shows that in 2024, the number of tourists exchanged between the two places has exceeded 300,000, and this golden corridor spanning Anhui and Zhejiang is becoming a shining example of integrated development in the Yangtze River Delta.

As the pioneer of the nation's first inter-provincial river basin ecological compensation mechanism, the governance of the Xin'an River is a model example. Today, the comprehensive pollution index of the water quality at the national control section across the Xin'an River basin remains stably below 0.84, surpassing the standards agreed upon by both provinces. Since 2023, Anhui and Zhejiang have jointly established the "Xin'an River - Qiandao Lake Ecological Environment Joint Protection Cooperation Area," extending the "Xin'an River Model" from ecological co-protection to industrial co-development.   

Policy dividends continue to release development vitality. The innovative implementation of the "Hangzhou-Huangshan World-Class Corridor 'Mutual Visitor Exchange' Cooperation Agreement" has set a goal of "exchanging 900,000 visitors over three years"; complementary ticket reciprocity measures have achieved significant results. In 2024, 14 national 4A-level and above tourist attractions in Huangshan City offered free admission to residents of Hangzhou on a phased basis, while the Daming Mountain Scenic Area in Hangzhou provided free entry to its first gate ticket for Huangshan tourists throughout the year. Digital technology injects new vitality into cultural tourism, with the Huangshan Scenic Area becoming the country's first "AI-accompanied Tour" scenic area; intangible cultural heritage artisans have leveraged e-commerce live streaming in Hangzhou, resulting in a 300% surge in annual sales of Huizhou cultural and creative products; the "Cultural Corridor" organically links the ancient city of Huizhou with national 5A-level tourist attractions such as West Lake, achieving integrated innovation in cultural tourism products.

In 2024, through special actions such as the "Cooperation Zone Investment Tour," Huangshan and Zhejiang enterprises signed 103 projects with an agreement investment of 13.4 billion yuan. At the second Hangzhou-Huangshan World-Class Natural Ecological and Cultural Tourism Corridor Cross-Provincial Cooperation Promotion Conference in 2025, the "2025 Major Industrial Projects of the Hangzhou-Huangshan Corridor" were announced, with a total investment of 102.3 billion yuan, covering six major areas including ecological restoration and cultural tourism integration.

From jointly protecting a river to collaboratively building a corridor, the practices of Hangzhou and Huangshan are continuously expanding the depth and breadth of regional cooperation. The year 2025 marks a year of deepened collaboration between the two cities, with the two provinces jointly issuing a list of cooperative tasks for the year 2025, encompassing 30 tasks in ecology, industry, and people's livelihood. Among them, both places jointly released high-quality tourist routes along the Hangzhou-Huangshan Natural Ecological and Cultural Tourism Corridor, along with mutual benefits policies in culture, tourism, and wellness, aiming to enhance the quality of the Xin'an River landscape corridor and create a provincial-level tourist resort area; organizing cultural exchanges and mutual learning around cultural formats such as film, television, and animation; conducting in-depth cooperation in inbound tourism, study excursions, and wellness travel residences, allowing this world-class corridor to continue writing a new chapter in the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta.

Source: China Culture News