2021.11.26
Recently, upon the review and approval of the Council of the World Tourism Alliance (WTA), 11 domestic Chinese entities became official WTA members, which are Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Gansu Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, six well-known tourism enterprises, namely Hainan Provincial Tourism Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd., Nanjing Tourism Group Co., Ltd., Beijing Qunar Information Technology Co., Ltd. (Qunar.com), Beijing Mafengwo Network Technology Co., Ltd. (Mafengwo Tourism), Xi’an Tourism Co., Ltd. and Sichuan Hiseas International Tourism Group, as well as three academic research institutions, namely the Institute of Tourism and Leisure of Zhejiang University, the College of Tourism of Hunan Normal University and Shanghai Institute of Tourism. The membership of the aforementioned new members was officially established on November 12, 2021. Up to now, the total number of WTA members amounts to 222, covering 40 countries and regions.
Member-related works constitute one of the core parts of the work of WTA. By stepping up communication and interaction with its members, proactively launching brand activities, and creating the matrix of media transmission, the WTA has been strengthening its leading role in the global tourism industry on a continuous basis. During the last year, the WTA arranged for investigations in Beijing, the Pearl River Delta region, and the Yangtze River Delta region, to learn about the development of its members, their opinions on the development trend of the tourism industry, and their expectations and requirements for the work of WTA, based on which it timely adjusted the contents of and approaches to membership services. On July 22, the WTA held its first Member’s Day 2021 in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, under the theme of “Festival Brands Building and City Tourism Development”, which served to consolidate the WTA’s function as a platform in facilitating exchange and cooperation among members. The WTA also successfully held the activities of “Fighting Against Illegal Trade in Wildlife, We are in Action” and “Second WTA Dialogue · City Tourism” in succession, and sponsored or participated in international activities, including he “4th International Scientific Conference TOURMAN 2021”, the “Video Seminar on China-Africa Poverty Reduction Cooperation”, the “South Africa-China Tourism Cooperation Virtual International Forum”, the “Eighth China-Russia Tourism Forum” and the “15th UNWTO/PATA Forum on Tourism Trends and Outlook”, to spread the WTA’s voice, publicize its concepts, and contribute its wisdom to the joint efforts.
Over the year, the WTA explored deeply into the value of cases on poverty alleviation and rural revitalization through tourism, and took proactive measures to publicize the great achievements and precious experience of China in reducing poverty through tourism. At the press conference held in Beijing on October 20, the WTA unveiled the WTA Best Practices of Rural Revitalization Through Tourism 2021 (hereinafter referred to as the report), making this year the third consecutive year for the WTA to join hands with the World Bank and the International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC) to release research cases. The report, composing of 50 typical cases from 31 Chinese municipalities, provinces, and autonomous regions, demonstrates the unique contribution of China to the world’s poverty alleviation and development. Recently, at the regular press conference of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin specially gave comments on the report, noting that, the release of the report is part of the series of activities to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the lawful seat of the People’s Republic of China in the United Nations; it is also an important measure taken by China to implement the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in tourism and promote mutual learning among countries in this area.