CHINADAILY: Cities to Court Global Tourists at Chongqing Summit

The World Tourism Cities Federation's annual summit will be held in Chongqing over Sept 19-20.

This year's focus: sharing economy and world tourism city development.

Approximately 400 guests from 85 cities and 40 institutes worldwide are expected to attend, including 30 mayors and deputy mayors from member cities, such as Milan in Italy and Salonica in Greece, says Song Yu, secretary-general of the federation.

The federation will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to strengthen tourism exchanges with countries through the Belt and Road initiatives.

This year's event, jointly organized by the federation and the Chongqing municipal government, will set up a tourism investment session.

Reports on cities' efforts to develop global tourism and on Chinese tourists' consumption will also be unveiled at the summit.

The event will also see the selection of the host cities for the 2017 and 2018 summits.

WTCF, a nonprofit international tourism organization formed by more than 160 cities and tourism-related institutions, was established four years ago.

It won the World Travel Leaders Award at the 2015 World Tourism Market in London.

The organization aims to promote exchanges and cooperation among its members and the tourism industry.