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WTA Dialogue·City Tourism Kicks off in Zhengzhou, Henan

2021.04.22

Sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China and the People’s Government of Henan Province, International Mayor’s Forum on Tourism – Zhengzhou, China 2021, supported by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), UNIDO Investment and Technology Promotion Office (ITPO), the World Tourism Alliance (WTA), Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and China Tourism Academy, was held on April 20-23, 2021 to build a high-end exchange and cooperation platform for global tourism and tourism cities. Hundreds of mayors of tourism cities and guests gathered in Zhengzhou to offer advice and suggestions for promoting tourism cooperation among cities around the world and seeking common development of tourism in the future.

As one of the supporting organizations of this year’s Mayor’s Forum, WTA successfully held the 2nd WTA Dialogue·City Tourism on the morning of April 22. With the theme of “Building a Regional Tourism Hub”, the WTA Dialogue·City Tourism aimed to share the successful experience of the world’s tourism cities in tapping their geological advantages, play an influential leader role, and develop hub economy and portal economy, so as to inject new vitality into the sustainable development of tourism. The event was participated by representatives from international organizations, leaders from relevant departments of Henan Province, mayors from home and abroad, WTA members, and nearly 300 guests from enterprises, academia and media.

WTA Chairman Duan Qiang said in his speech that in the post-epidemic era, there were many problems to be solved in the era in the development of urban tourism. For example, for regional big cities, how to build and enhance the status of a key city for international tourism, and better play the role of regional influence in the recovery and revitalization of tourism; how to innovate the supply of urban tourism products to adapt to the new situation of market changes in a better manner after the pandemic; how to build a better urban living space for hosts and guests based on local urban resources, environment and talent characteristics; how to build the brand image of the city, integrate various resources, and better realize the high-quality development of the city and destination.

Shi Zhanyong, Deputy Mayor of the People’s Government of Zhengzhou City, delivered a welcome speech, saying that cultural tourism was an indicator of economic vitality and an important way to stimulate consumption and drive development. During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, Zhengzhou would take “cultural and tourism strength” as an important support for high-quality development, and strive to create a batch of cultural tourism brands and calling cards with Zhengzhou logo, so as to build the city into a famous national historical and cultural city with both ancient and modern elements, and into an international tourism portal with unique charm in the Yellow River Basin.

Liu Shijun, Secretary-General of WTA, analyzed the path of building an international tourism hub city from the perspective of the establishment standard of China’s best tourism city. He said that a city was not only the main destination of tourists, but also the main source of tourists, playing an important role of tourist distribution center. The tourism development of a city was subject to the mutual coordination, mutual support, mutual feedback and mutual influence of several subsystems of the tourism system. To build an international tourism hub city was to complete a huge social project with multi-department cooperation and joint construction, with standardization as the means and tourism as the core, by focusing on the goal of forming a relatively complete urban tourism function. The experience in building China’s best tourism city is expected to provide the blueprint, standards, procedures and guidelines for this huge project.

Li Hong, counselor of Hangzhou Municipal Government, expert of Zhejiang Provincial Culture and Tourism Think Tank, former Party Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of Hangzhou Tourism Commission, and Joo Yong-tae, Director-General of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Tourism and Sports Bureau, shared their respective practical experience in the global development of tourism cities. Professor Peng Qing from the School of Tourism Management at Sun Yat-sen University and Zhan Chunchun, Business Director of CNN International China, respectively analyzed the logic of building an international tourism hub city from the perspective of brand and media. At the same time, a roundtable discussion with the theme of “Tourism Economy Development of Cities along the Yellow River” was held at the forum. The participants expressed their views and had in-depth exchanges on the tourism development of the cities in the economic belt along the Yellow River.

As an influential non-governmental international organization in tourism with profound development potential, WTA focuses on poverty reduction, development and peace issues, aiming to promote global tourism connectivity by building an exchange platform with extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits. At present, WTA has 211 members from 40 countries and regions.