The 2024 "Family of the Maritime Silk Road" ASEAN online celebrity conference and TikTok Short Video Pageant Award Ceremony was held at Haikou in south China's Hainan Province on Thursday.

The 2024 ASEAN-China Year of People-to-People Exchanges serves as an opportunity to strengthen education, tourism and people-to-people exchanges.

The event launched early this year was aimed at promoting travel and culture in Hainan and enhancing friendship with ASEAN countries through in-person interviews, online interactions and social media promotion at the content creators' social media channels. TikTok influencers from Vietnam, Laos and Indonesia won the first prize.

"ASEAN has remained Hainan Province's top trading partner for three consecutive years," noted Su Qiya, deputy director general of Department of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports of Hainan Province, who expressed hope that the event would further bring people of China and ASEAN countries closer and promote in-depth cooperation and extensive exchanges in economy, trade, culture and tourism.

In recent years, Hainan has been a key hub linking China and ASEAN member countries and has actively hosted cultural and tourism events to foster economic and trade collaboration. Ordinary passport holders of ASEAN countries of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei can enjoy visa-free entry to Hainan for tourism, business and trade, family visits, medical treatment, exhibitions and sports competitions, according to the Chinese Visa Application Service Center.

The integration of culture and tourism has further helped link Hainan and ASEAN member countries, promoting mutual exchanges as well as economic and social development. 

During the conference, cooperation mechanisms like the "One Family along the Maritime Silk Road" Influencers Grand Alliance and the duty-free season were also launched.

Officials from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports of Hainan Province, China-ASEAN Center, and the Consulate-General of Thailand in Guangzhou, as well as diplomats and content creators from ASEAN countries, attended the event.