On April 20, 2026, the 2026 Xi'an Silk Road International Tourism Expo opened in Xi'an. The 'Colorful Gansu' themed pavilion systematically showcased, for the first time, exportable modular cultural and tourism product packages, covering intangible cultural heritage performances, digital guide systems, low-carbon scenic area operation and maintenance solutions, and more. The exhibition clearly indicated dual compliance information for ISO/IEC 20000-1 and GB/T 39645-2020, attracting on-site business matchmaking with cultural and tourism institutions and channel partners from 12 countries including Kazakhstan, the UAE, and Thailand. Cultural and tourism equipment integrators, smart scenic area solution providers, intangible cultural heritage IP operators, cross-border cultural and tourism service enterprises, and other niche sectors should pay close attention—this marks that China's cultural and tourism services are shifting from content export to standardized, deliverable, and verifiable systematic export, with compliance beginning to become a key evaluation dimension in overseas procurement decisions.

Event Overview

The 2026 Xi'an Silk Road International Tourism Expo opened on April 20, 2026. At this year's expo, the 'Colorful Gansu' themed pavilion, for the first time, centrally displayed three categories of exportable cultural and tourism service products in the form of modular product packages: intangible cultural heritage performances, digital guide systems, and low-carbon scenic area operation and maintenance solutions. The exhibition site clearly indicated that they comply with ISO/IEC 20000-1 (IT service management) and GB/T 39645-2020 (smart scenic area data interface) standards. Cultural and tourism institutions and channel partners from 12 countries, including Kazakhstan, the UAE, and Thailand, conducted on-site matchmaking and generated actual inquiries.

Which Sub-sectors Will Be Impacted

Smart Cultural and Tourism System Integration Enterprises

Such enterprises typically provide scenic areas with integrated solutions such as digital guides, ticketing middle platforms, and visitor flow analysis. The fact that this exhibition used GB/T 39645-2020 as an explicit label means that domestic smart scenic area data interface standards have entered the technical due diligence checklist of overseas buyers. The impact is reflected in the following: overseas project bids will need to simultaneously provide explanations of standards compliance; the existing customized development model may face higher requirements for modular packaging and interface consistency; some data models or API designs that are not adapted to this national standard will require upfront assessment of compatibility costs.

Intangible Cultural Heritage Revitalization and Cultural Content Operation Institutions

The inclusion of intangible cultural heritage performances in exportable modular product packages indicates that single performance exports are shifting toward a combination of “content + process + delivery standards.” The impact is reflected in the following: intangible cultural heritage projects will need standardized implementation manuals (including duration, staffing, equipment parameters, and safety contingency plans); overseas implementation will need compliance documents matching local performance permits, insurance, copyright authorization, and the like; the former dissemination model relying on personal IP or regional reputation is giving way to service delivery capabilities that are replicable and auditable.

Low-carbon Scenic Area Technical Service Providers

The independent display of low-carbon scenic area operation and maintenance solutions as a standalone module indicates that carbon management is extending from the scope of ESG reporting to the practical operational level of cultural and tourism infrastructure. The impact is reflected in the following: energy monitoring systems, waste disposal SOPs, visitor low-carbon behavior guidance mechanisms, and the like need to form verifiable and replicable technical packages; overseas buyers may require third-party carbon accounting evidence or localized adaptation cases; if existing service contract templates lack carbon performance clauses, they will face pressure for supplementary revision.

Cross-border Cultural and Tourism Channels and Distribution Service Providers

On-site inquiries from channel partners in 12 countries reflect that overseas B-end buyers are trying to bypass traditional travel agency intermediaries and directly connect with Chinese cultural and tourism service providers that have standardized delivery capabilities. The impact is reflected in the following: channel partners' supplier review priorities are shifting from “resource abundance” to “speed of standards response” and “localization support capabilities”; multilingual service agreements, cross-border settlement compliance, and after-sales response SLA (service level agreement) are becoming new negotiation focuses; small and medium-sized service providers without bilingual technical documentation or standards certification records will find it difficult to enter procurement shortlists.

What Key Points Should Relevant Enterprises or Practitioners Pay Attention To, and How Should They Respond at Present

Pay Attention to Whether Follow-up Official Guidelines for Standardizing Cultural and Tourism Service Exports Will Be Issued

Although this exhibition was a local themed pavilion initiative, its presentation method of listing ISO and national standards side by side carries policy signaling significance. It is recommended to continue tracking whether the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Commerce will subsequently introduce Guidelines for Compliance in Cultural and Tourism Service Exports or pilot catalogs, rather than viewing it merely as a one-time exhibition move.

Prioritize Assessing the Interface Compatibility of Your Own Products/Services with GB/T 39645-2020

This standard specifies the technical requirements for data collection, transmission, and exchange in smart scenic areas. What deserves more attention at present is: whether data field mapping of core systems (such as gates, broadcasting, and LED screens) has been completed; whether API response formats comply with JSON Schema specifications; whether historical data supports aggregated export according to standard time granularity (such as 15 minutes). Immediate certification is not necessary, but a self-inspection checklist should be established.

Differentiate the Substantive Difference Between “Standards Labeling” and “Standards Certification”

Labeling standard numbers in an exhibition is a self-declaration and is not equivalent to third-party certification. If an enterprise plans to expand into overseas markets, it needs to clarify that: ISO/IEC 20000-1 certification must be issued by a CNAS-accredited institution; GB/T 39645-2020 currently has no mandatory certification system, but some countries' bidding documents may list it as a technical threshold. Avoid misreading exhibition board labeling as a market access pass.

Sort Out in Advance the Multilingual Conversion Priorities of Existing Service Documents

Inquiries from key markets such as Kazakhstan, the UAE, and Thailand suggest that priority should be given to completing English/Arabic/Thai versions of three types of documents: service module descriptions (including delivery cycles and acceptance methods), brief statements of standards compliance (not certification proof), and typical scenario deployment diagrams. Translation does not need to pursue full-text coverage, but key parameters, responsibility boundaries, and disclaimer clauses must correspond accurately.

Editorial Viewpoint / Industry Observation

From an industry perspective, the exhibition at the 'Colorful Gansu' themed pavilion is better understood as a phased attempt to visibly build compliance capabilities for cultural and tourism service exports, rather than as an already mature export model. Its value lies not in how many orders were concluded on-site, but in using ISO and national standards side by side for the first time as buyer evaluation tools, elevating “standards response capability” from a back-end supporting factor to a front-end competitive factor. Observations show that there have not yet been large-scale overseas signings or mandatory policy requirements, but leading channel partners have already incorporated standards compatibility into preliminary screening conditions. This means that standards development is moving from government-led “soft guidance” to the eve of market-driven “hard constraints.” The industry needs to continue paying attention to whether more provinces will replicate this exhibition logic at similar expos in the next six months, and whether cultural and tourism procurement bidding documents in key export markets will add new standards compliance clauses.

Conclusion: The standardized exhibition of the 'Colorful Gansu' themed pavilion at this Xi'an Silk Road Expo marks that China's cultural and tourism service exports are undergoing a structural shift from experience-driven to standards-driven development. It is not an immediate market breakthrough, but rather an important starting point for the visualization of compliance capabilities. At present, it is more appropriate to understand it as a capability signal—that is, Chinese cultural and tourism service providers are systematically building a service infrastructure that is measurable, comparable, and deliverable, while overseas buyers are also gradually establishing corresponding evaluation benchmark systems. This development should be viewed rationally: neither its long-term institutional impact should be underestimated, nor its short-term conversion efficiency should be overestimated.

Information source note:
Main sources: Public exhibition news and on-site exhibition information from the 2026 Xi'an Silk Road International Tourism Expo.
Items pending continued observation: whether the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry of Commerce will subsequently introduce supporting policies for standardizing cultural and tourism service exports; whether bidding documents in key export markets will add compliance requirements for GB/T 39645-2020 or ISO/IEC 20000-1.