From May 23 to 28, 2026, the Lanzhou Marathon piloted the mechanism of ‘race credentials as cultural and tourism passes’, linking 12 scenic areas including Ink Danxia and the Yellow River Night Tour to implement free admission or discount policies, attracting more than 21,000 Chinese and international runners and their family members to participate in in-depth cultural and tourism consumption. On May 26, this practice was listed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism at the ‘Forum on Building a Culturally Strong Nation’ as a ‘replicable case of international sports tourism supply chain integration’, explicitly encouraging the export of its asset-light operating model to Belt and Road countries. Sub-sectors such as sports event operations, destination cultural tourism services, cross-border tourism procurement, and smart ticketing system development should pay close attention to its demonstration effect and implementation pathways.

Event Overview

From May 23 to 28, 2026, relying on the mechanism of ‘race credentials as cultural and tourism passes’, the Lanzhou Marathon joined with 12 scenic areas including Ink Danxia and the Yellow River Night Tour to provide free admission or discounted benefits to runners holding valid race credentials and their accompanying family members. According to public information, the event attracted more than 21,000 Chinese and international runners and their family members during the period, generating corresponding cultural and tourism consumption behavior. On May 26, 2026, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism officially listed this model at the ‘Forum on Building a Culturally Strong Nation’ as a ‘replicable case of international sports tourism supply chain integration’, proposing that its asset-light operating characteristics have promotional value for Belt and Road countries.

Which sub-sectors will be affected

Sports event planning and execution agencies

This model extends the boundaries of event services to cross-scenario cultural and tourism consumption, forcing event operators to strengthen their coordination capabilities with resource providers such as scenic areas, transportation, and accommodation. The impact is mainly reflected in: original single event execution contracts need to be upgraded into composite cooperation frameworks that include cultural and tourism benefit distribution, verification and validation, and data interconnection; the value assessment dimensions of event IP now add cultural and tourism traffic diversion efficiency and regional consumption-driving coefficients.

Destination cultural tourism operation and management parties (including A-level scenic areas and nighttime cultural tourism projects)

For the first time, scenic areas are accessing traffic from large-scale sports events through ‘pass verification and redemption’. Their ticketing systems, visitor flow scheduling, and service routes need to adapt to short-term concentrated verification and flexible carrying capacity demands. The impact is mainly reflected in: traditional ticketing systems priced by day/time slot need to support dynamic benefit binding; visitor identity recognition is shifting from ‘ticket purchaser’ to ‘credential holder’, requiring integration of multi-source identity data interfaces such as public security, health, and event registration.

Cross-border sports tourism procurement and distribution service providers

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has clearly stated that this model has export potential to Belt and Road countries, meaning that the product design logic for sports tourism markets in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and other regions will be adjusted. The impact is mainly reflected in: the original ‘air ticket + hotel + event viewing’ packaging logic needs to embed localized cultural and tourism pass redemption channels; the procurement side needs to connect in advance with destination service providers in target countries that have pass verification capabilities, rather than relying solely on traditional local tour operator resources.

Smart ticketing and identity authentication technology service providers

‘Race credentials as cultural and tourism passes’ relies on unified digital identity verification and cross-platform benefit invocation capabilities, putting forward new requirements for the underlying technical architecture. The impact is mainly reflected in: support is needed for real-time verification of multiple document types (passport, Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents, Resident Identity Card of the People’s Republic of China); compatibility is required with APIs of different scenic area ticketing systems to achieve synchronized benefit status and prevent repeated verification and redemption.

What key points should relevant enterprises or practitioners pay attention to, and how should they respond at present

Pay attention to follow-up official wording or policy changes

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has already listed it as a ‘replicable case’, but has not yet issued supporting operational guidelines or standard specifications. What deserves more attention at present is whether the ‘Guidelines for the Integrated Development of Sports and Tourism’ or a technical white paper on ‘cultural and tourism passes’ will be introduced in the third quarter of 2026. Such documents will directly affect local pilot applications and the cost of adapting enterprise solutions.

Pay attention to changes in key categories, key markets, or key business links

Analysis shows that the first batch of replication is likely to be prioritized in cities with mature marathon IPs and rich cultural and tourism resources (such as Xi’an, Chengdu, and Xiamen), rather than regions with a large number of events but weak cultural and tourism coordination; cross-border export is more likely to start from Belt and Road hub countries that have already signed tourism facilitation agreements with China (such as Kazakhstan, Thailand, and the UAE). Relevant enterprises should prioritize sorting out local ticketing compliance requirements and payment and settlement habits in the above markets.

Differentiate between policy signals and actual business implementation

Observations show that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s designation of it as a ‘replicable case’ is directional guidance and does not equate to financial subsidies or mandatory promotion. If enterprises plan to follow up, they need to independently calculate the renovation cost of pass verification systems, the marginal revenue changes brought by scenic area concessions, and the real range of runners’ cultural and tourism consumption conversion rates——currently, key operational data such as per capita local cultural and tourism spending by runners in Lanzhou and secondary length of stay have not been disclosed.

Make advance preparations in procurement, supply chain, communication, or contingency planning

It is more appropriate to understand that technical service providers with cross-system integration capabilities can start API compatibility pre-research with mainstream scenic area ticketing platforms (such as Jingyu, Zhongkesoft, and Jiexin); destination cultural tourism operators can review restrictive clauses in current ticketing system supplier contracts regarding the opening of third-party interfaces; cross-border tourism service providers should complete preliminary contact with local cultural and tourism resource providers in at least 2 target countries before Q3, verifying their understanding of the concept of ‘pass verification and redemption’ and the readiness status of their systems.

Editorial Viewpoint / Industry Observation

Analysis shows this initiative is currently a policy signal—not an operational standard—reflecting a strategic pivot toward asset-light, platform-mediated sports tourism integration. It signals growing institutional recognition that sports events are no longer standalone attractions but critical nodes in regional consumption networks. However, scalability hinges on solving interoperability challenges across fragmented ticketing systems and jurisdictional data governance rules. The real test lies not in replication of the model per se, but in whether it can be adapted without requiring public subsidy or compromising commercial viability for participating venues.

Conclusion: The Lanzhou Marathon ‘Event + Cultural Tourism’ model being listed by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism as a replicable case is essentially official recognition of an asset-light collaborative path of ‘using events as touchpoints, passes as links, and consumption as the destination’. At present, it is more appropriate to understand it as a phased validation of a methodology for regional resource integration, rather than a universal solution. The industry needs to rationally distinguish the gap between policy advocacy and commercial closed loops, with key focus on technology adaptation costs, multi-party benefit redistribution mechanisms, and the difficulty of localized restructuring in cross-border scenarios.

Source note:
Main sources: Public briefing of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s ‘Forum on Building a Culturally Strong Nation’ (May 26, 2026); official explanation by the Lanzhou Marathon Organizing Committee on the mechanism of ‘race credentials as cultural and tourism passes’ (released on May 23, 2026).
Items for continued observation: whether the Ministry of Culture and Tourism will issue supporting technical standards or pilot city selection measures; whether operational data such as the conversion rate of local runners’ cultural and tourism consumption in Lanzhou and length of stay will be disclosed subsequently.