UNDP and WTCF Jointly Release The Sustainable Development of World Tourism Cities in the COVID Context: The Research on Chinese Actions

On 10 May, the World Tourism Cities Federation Changsha Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit 2023 (hereinafter referred to as the "Summit") themed "Gathering the Strength of Cities to Revitalize World Tourism" was launched in Changsha, China. At the Summit, Yang Shuo, Secretary-General of the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) and James George, Deputy Resident Representative in China of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), jointly released The Sustainable Development of World Tourism Cities in the COVID Context: The Research on Chinese Actions (hereinafter referred to as The Research on Chinese Actions).

Yang Shuo, WTCF's Secretary-General (left), and James George, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in China, jointly released The Sustainable Development of World Tourism Cities in the COVID Context: The Research on Chinese Actions.

Tourism cities serve as the core carriers of promoting sustainable development while tourism remains a major driver of sustainable development of cities. The COVID-19 pandemic has generated catastrophic impacts on tourism that inflicted heavy losses on global tourism revenue and employment and caused unprecedented challenges to the sustainable development of tourism cities. Given the context, UNDP and WTCF conducted an investigation and analysis of China's tourism business, summarized China's contribution in tackling the pandemic and promoting the sustainable development of tourism, demonstrated the new patterns of innovative development of Chinese tourism cities and their achievements in boosting the growth of tourism economy, guaranteeing employment, and protecting the natural ecological environment, and showed the practices and experiences concerning the sustainable development of Chinese tourism cities to the international community.

The Research on Chinese Actions includes four chapters, namely "Contribution of Sustainable Tourism to Address Impact of COVID-19 on Global Tourism Cities", "Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on China's Tourism Cities and Actions Taken", "Assessment of Progress towards the SDGs in Tourism Cities" and "Case Studies for Sustainable Development by Chinese Tourism Cities". The part of the COVID-19's impact on Chinese tourism cities and countermeasures points out that Chinese tourism cities are creating a more sustainable tourism industry by means of developing green tourism and rural tourism, propelling culture-tourism integration, advancing digital tourism, etc., with many meaningful explorations and practices in boosting the green recovery and development of the local economy.

In the chapter of the evaluation of SDG implementation progress of tourism cities, WTCF and UNDP evaluated WTCF's member cities in China and studied their actions. This part includes the evaluation of progress toward SDGs of ten Chinese tourism cities (i.e. Beijing, Chengdu, Changsha, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Jiaozuo, Kunming, Luoyang, Qingdao and Sanya) on five dimensions (i.e. "People", "Prosperity", "Planet", "Peace" and "Partnership"), including the overall evaluation and individual evaluation of the gaps toward SDGs. The results show that Beijing, Guangzhou, and Chengdu have achieved more than 85% of their goals while Changsha, Qingdao, and Sanya achieved more than 80% of their goals. All the evaluated cities have achieved more than 70% of their SDGs.

James George, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in China, speaks during the Summit.

James George noted in his presentation that tourism is an important economic driver, and sustainable tourism is of great significance to sustainable economic growth as well as sustainable consumption and production. The 2030 SDGs provide a framework for developing inclusive and resilient economies around the world. Tourism cities are to improve their awareness and organize capacity building and training centered on sustainability, while the tourism industry should further explore robust and inclusive business models.

As a host of the Summit, WTCF was founded in Beijing in 2012. It is the first city-centered international tourism organization. Upholding the core philosophy of "Better City Life through Tourism", it provides members with a platform to share experiences, strengthen cooperation, and gather for reaching consensuses.