The 3rd Conference of Hebei Tourism Industry Development and the Hebei Tourism and Culture Promotion Conference was held in the picturesque Bashang Grassland, Chengde city, North China's Hebei province on Wednesday.

Xu Qin, Hebei's governor, delivered the welcoming speech during the event. "Tourism is an important channel for exchanges and mutual learning between different countries, different regions and different cultures. It is an effective means of developing the economy and increasing employment, and an important industry to meet people's needs for a better life," said he.

"Hebei is the only province in China that boasts rich yet different geographic advantages, including seashore, plain, lake, mountain and plateau," Xu said, adding that Saihanba National Forest Park, China's largest man-made woodland, in Weichang Manchu and Mongolian autonomous county is a wonder of the world and won the UN's top environmental award last year.