SCO Member States Discuss Promotion of Joint Tourism Products and Routes

On July 7, 2025, the next Meeting of the Heads of Tourism Administrations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Member States was held in Qingdao with the participation of SCO Secretary General N. Yermekbayev. The event was held in a hybrid format and chaired by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the PRC, the press service of the Organization reports.

In his speech, the Secretary-General emphasized the importance of tourism in cultural and humanitarian cooperation in the Organization. The liberalization of the visa regime, promotion of joint tourism products and routes, improvement of infrastructure and development of youth tourism were noted as areas that could increase the practical impact of cooperation.

N. Ermekbaev also drew the participants’ attention to the growing popularity of cultural events in the SCO member states, including exhibition and fair events.

The heads of delegations shared their assessments of joint work over the past period, exchanged opinions on the current level of cooperation in the field of tourism, and confirmed their readiness to facilitate the further development of the tourism potential of the SCO member states.

The meeting participants noted the contribution of Qingdao City as the “SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital” (2024-2025) and expressed support for the candidacy of Cholpon-Ata City (Kyrgyz Republic) to receive this status for the period 2025-2026.

Following the meeting of heads of tourism administrations of the SCO member states, a Protocol was signed.

The mechanism of regular meetings of the heads of tourism administrations of the SCO member states was created in 2016 in order to intensify cooperation in the tourism sector and promote joint initiatives in this area. One of the forms of cooperation has become the practice of designating one of the cities of the SCO member states as the "Tourism and Cultural Capital of the SCO". Previously, this status was assigned to the city of Varanasi (2022-2023), the city of Almaty (2023-2024) and the city of Qingdao (2024-2025).