The 11th Liu Sanjie Cultural Tourism Festival is held in Yizhou district, Hechi on Dec 5. [Photo/gxnews.com.cn]

Performers in traditional Zhuang clothing sing songs at the opening ceremony. [Photo/gxnews.com.cn]

The 11th Liu Sanjie Cultural Tourism Festival, which is sponsored by the Guangxi Culture and Tourism Department and the Hechi municipal people's government, kicked off in Yizhou district, Hechi on Dec 5.

A group of wonderful performances were staged at the opening party, including songs spotlighting Yizhou folk culture and characteristics.

The Liu Sanjie Cultural Tourism Festival has been successfully held for 10 consecutive years and has become a calling card for tourism in Guangxi. This year's festival?has 10 major series of themed events, including a folk song contest, a short video and live streaming contest, as well as a food festival, fully demonstrating the ethnic cultural characteristics of Yizhou and carefully presenting a cultural feast for tourists in and outside of Guangxi.

In recent years, Hechi has followed the autonomous region's work arrangements for accelerating the construction of a strong cultural tourism area, making full use of its unique advantages of longevity culture, pristine scenery, and ecological beauty. The city has also built the healthcare and cultural tourism industries as strategic pillar industries.

From January to October this year, Hechi received 26.75 million domestic and foreign tourists, which recovered to 69.2 percent of total from the same period last year. The total tourism consumption revenue generated was 32.8 billion yuan ($5.01 billion), which has recovered to 68.96 percent of the total from the same period last year.