A line-up of 1,000+ worthwhile cultural and travel destinations and events will be on offer

SHENZHEN, China, July 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Overseas Chinese Town Group (OCT Group) has recently launched the 2021 OCT Group Culture and Tourism Festival themed "A journey of colorful joy at OCT". This year's culture and tourism festival runs from June 19 to October 31, and features some 500 thematic cultural events and more than 500 cultural destinations, segmented into five experience types: City Holidays, Electric Music Carnival, Wellness & Leisure, Chinese Art and Food & Fun, giving visitors an opportunity to partake of and enjoy the wonder and the wide variety of what China and Chinese culture has to offer.

On the first day of the festival, June 19, OCT Group hosted the online Opening Day event. Journalists from more than 100 media organizations and nearly 600,000 virtual travelers from both within China and abroad gathered on WeChat, Weibo, YouTube, Instagram and other platforms to witness the festival launch. At many of the "must-see" spots to visit, as selected by OCT, several influential travel bloggers live streamed the event to their millions of followers, resulting in many who joined online to snap memorable photos of what they were viewing, as they experienced the charm of China's magnificent rivers, mountains and traditional cultures.

On the same day, OCT Group launched its first cultural tourism app worldwide, the OCT Huaxiaocheng. As OCT's online travel experience platform, the app covers every aspect of the traveler's journey, from information inquiry, ticket purchase and reservation prior to the trip, to online queuing, intelligent customer service, reminder of an upcoming event or activity and of opportunities for picture taking at a famous place of interest during the trip, and finally to reviews on sites visited, sharing of travel tips and credits rewarded for interactions with other travelers after the trip, all of which is provided to enhance the overall travel experience.

Since the start of this year's festival, several new "must-see" destinations and events have been added, including Xi'an Playa Maya Water Park, Yangzhou Dream City, Ningbo OCT Harbour Ecological Sports Park, and party-style theater "Spectacle 2099", as well as a series of thematic activities focusing on cultural events best enjoyed at night or during the summer, two of the most notable among the selection being Night Jiangnan and Electric Music Carnival.

OCT Group, provider of culture-based travel and touring experiences, has continuously led innovation across the sector with its offerings over the years and established a series of competitive cultural travel destinations including Happy Valley, Splendid China - Folk Culture Villages, Window of the World, Eastern Overseas Chinese Town, and OCT Harbor, each of which has empowered its visitors through the unforgettable "quality of life" adventure during the time that they spent there. The Group currently operates and manages nearly 80 tourism destinations worldwide, ranking the firm third globally and first in Asia in the theme park sector. In line with the continual enhancement of its theme park and travel destination portfolio, OCT Group promises that this year's festival will offer many opportunities for adventure that are new and different, with more new activities, new destinations and new experiences that meet the expectations of today's travelling public, each one of which reflect the spirit of craftsmanship and an aspiration to excellence that the firm is known for.