The high-quality integration of culture and tourism is not only a necessary requirement for building China into a country with a strong culture and a strong tourism sector, but also an inherent part of striving to achieve Chinese modernization. It is particularly necessary to discuss the theoretical relationship between the high-quality integration of culture and tourism and the process of Chinese modernization, clarify its scientific connotations, basic characteristics and practical constraints, and build a long-term promotion mechanism. We can see that Chinese modernization and the high-quality integration of culture and tourism mutually support each other in the theoretical framework of “strategic goals, essential connotations, and basic characteristics”. The high-quality integration of culture and tourism in the new era is characterized by supply-demand matching, urban-rural balance, mutual promotion, green efficiency, and openness to the outside world. The main challenges lie in the obstruction of culture and tourism supply-side reform, the imbalance of urban-rural integration of culture and tourism, the shallow integration of cultural and tourism industry, the effective management of cultural and tourism space, and the insufficient international influence of culture and tourism. On this new journey, we must enrich cultural and tourism products, promote balanced urban-rural development of culture and tourism, advance the deep integration of the cultural and tourism system, optimize the functions of cultural and tourism spaces, and enhance the international competitiveness of culture and tourism.