China takes pride in its 52 World Heritage Sites, second only to Italy. The influx of millions of tourists, however, has brought great pressure, giving rise to the application of state-of-the-art technology for smart services.

Dujiangyan and Mount Qingcheng, for example, two historical attractions in southwest China's Sichuan Province, are pioneers in going smart. In recent years, the two Heritage Sites, under a unified administration, have been using popular social media platforms to better serves. They set up official accounts on WeChat and Twitter-like Weibo so that visitors can not only get information about the sites, but buy tickets and order related services.

Besides WeChat and Weibo, the local government has also developed an app which rates service providers by color-coding them red or black.

Other modern tech such as big data has also been used for high efficiency.

As for the goal of smart management, marketing and service, the administration has set up a big data platform with more than 30 subsystems. Through big data analysis, the platform can provide such information as the number and sources of visitors, as well as comments on their stay there. Based on this information, the sites can make adjustments on their management and marketing strategies.

Zou Lu, a staff member of the big data center, said that it can also be used for relatively accurate estimates of future visitor numbers, allowing for pre-scheduling. Meanwhile, located in a province with fragile geological conditions, the sites have also installed monitoring devices to forecast any potential natural disasters.

And more blueprints are on the way. Zheng Guangjie, deputy director of the administration, told CGTN that it will further diversify techie services. "For example, we plan to adopt augmented reality to let people know how our ancestors constructed the Dujiangyan irrigation project."

Taleb Rifai, secretary-general of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), said during an interview with CGTN that technology is vital to the development of the tourism industry.

"You cannot ignore technology at all. You have to interact with it positively. It's going to happen no matter if you like it or not. It advances. So, what we are asking for is better understanding and better interaction and involvement with the tourism private sector and public sector," Rifai said while attending the organization's assembly in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

Technology tops the agenda for the UNWTO biennial event. According to the latest figures, China is now the world’s fourth most visited country and the top market for outbound travel. It is for this reason and tech success stories like those of Dujiangyan and Mount Qingcheng that Rifai believes "the future is for China."