A Video Message from Zoritsa Urosevic, Executive Director of UNWTO

Dear Friends of the World Tourism Cities Federation,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning! (Da Jia Hao).

Firstly, I would like to thank Mr. YANG Shuo, Secretary General of WTCF for the kind invitation to join today's summit. Please accept my apologies for not being able to be with you in person and also allow me to share our appreciation for your continued commitment to making tourism in cities more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient.

UNWTO and WTCF enjoy a strong, longstanding relationship. Since 2015, we have signed to two Memoradums of understanding and we are in the process of signing a third one.

The work we do together matters, like our joint research project, which will give us a better understanding of the impact of urban tourism. This will shed light on the existing urban tourism data sources and indicators, evaluating the feasibility of developing a global system to gather and share key data on urban tourism. In short, it will help urban destinations along their path to responsible and sustainable growth, and it will help ensure that socio-economic benefits of tourism are enjoyed by all, and that cultural and natural assets are preserved for future generations.

Dear Friends,

Tourism has once again shown its resilience. Our data show that we are well on the way to full recovery after the biggest crisis in the sector's history. Our forward looking scenarios point to international tourist arrivals, reaching as much as 95% of pre-pandemic levels by the end of this year. It is a shared success.

The recent reopening of China is a significant step for the recovery of the tourism sector, which is why we were proud to be there for it. Last February, UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili led a delegation to Hangzhou to mark the return of the world's biggest tourism source market. And then we recently welcomed China's Minister of Culture and Tourism, honorable Hu Heping, to our headquarters in Madrid. Our relationship goes from strength to strength.

Dear Friends,

As our sector consolidates its recovery, cities are positioned to lead the way. Indeed, the contribution of cities will be crucial in advancing the sustainable development goals to tourism. Partnerships, global collaboration and platforms of knowledge exchange such as the WTCF Annual Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit, are all critical. As such, UNWTO will continue to work with WTCF to achieve our common goals.

I send my best wishes to all our Chinese friends at WTCF and I wish you a productive and inspiring summit.

Thank you very much.