The 19th Beijing International Tourism Festival will be held from Oct.1 to Oct.4, including activities such as promoting local products featured with traditional Chinese medicine to foreign tourists and inviting domestic and foreign tourists to vote for their favorite tourist sites in Beijing.

The opening ceremony will be held at the Olympic Park on Oct. 1, boasting various kinds of cultural activities and a costume parade, in a bid to carry forward the Silk Road spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit. A total of 28 art troupes and over 700 performers from home and abroad will perform during the carnival.

This year’s tourism festival will also launch a new activity inviting foreign tourists to vote for their favorite Beijing tourist sites.

In addition, well-traveled internet celebrities, foreign students and young foreign visitors will be invited to take a ride around Beijing on shared bikes and learn about the city’s mixture of traditions and modern conveniences.

Organizers of the festival said this year’s event is aimed at promoting travel routes and resources in Beijing and making Beijing a world-famous tourism destination.

The large-scale annual culture festival is hosted by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development. First began in 1988, the carnival has previously been held 18 times, and it has become a world-renowned tourism festival.