Multipolar Statecraft: Institutionalization and Innovation in China-GCC Relations

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-475-4_86How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Gulf Arab States; Tourism Diplomacy; Belt and Road Initiative; Global South; Soft Power

Abstract

Tourism has evolved from a cultural exchange tool into a strategic geopolitical asset under regional economic transformation and global governance reform. This paper explores the development of tourism diplomacy between China and the Gulf Arab States, providing new insights into transcending traditional energy-based cooperation. By tracing historical ties from the ancient Silk Road to digital era collaborations, the study highlights the unique role of tourism diplomacy in amplifying soft power, fostering economic complementarity, and promoting technological innovation. It finds that the Gulf States’ economic diversification strategies and China’s Belt and Road Initiative have jointly fostered practices such as visa facilitation, digital payment integration, and cultural heritage co-development. Additionally, emerging areas like space tourism and metaverse-based cultural tourism offer new opportunities for cross-civilization dialogue and cooperation. The research suggests that future Sino-Gulf tourism diplomacy will not only enhance bilateral ties but also contribute to the Global South’s broader influence in international tourism governance, supporting the construction of a more inclusive and sustainable global tourism community.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Wenjia Liu
AU  - Junyi Zhang
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/11/11
TI  - Multipolar Statecraft: Institutionalization and Innovation in China-GCC Relations
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 10th International Conference on Modern Management, Education and Social Sciences (MMET 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 769
EP  - 776
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-475-4_86
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-475-4_86
ID  - Liu2025
ER  -