Vladimir Norov, Secretary-General of SCO: Promoting Global Tourism through Trilateral Cooperation in Face of Challenges and Opportunities

On 3 September 2021, WTCF Beijing Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit & World Conference on Tourism Cooperation and Development opened at China National Convention Center in Beijing, with the theme of "Revitalizing World Tourism and Energizing City Development". Vladimir Norov, Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), delivered a video speech at the opening ceremony. He stated that COVID-19 brings not only challenges to global tourism development but also more opportunities for countries to promote modern information and communication technologies, create a new, high-quality tourism environment, as well as improve overall development of tourism facilities.

Vladimir Norov, Secretary-General of SCO, delivers a video speech at the opening ceremony

In his speech, Vladimir Norov stated that the pandemic has caused global tourism export revenues to decrease by 1.3 trillion U.S. dollars, which is 11 times higher than the losses of the 2009 global economic crisis. About 120 million tourism-related job opportunities are at risks, and most of them are SMEs.

Regarding daunting challenges brought by the pandemic, Vladimir Norov noted: "The harmonization, coordination and digitalization of measures to reduce the risk of the spread of COVID-19 associated with travel. including certificates of testing, tracking and vaccination, including the use of universal 'passports' of health are important bases for promoting safe travel and prparing for restoration of tourism".

In addition, Vladimir Norov said: "The pandemic has created additional opportunities associated with the use of modern information and communication technologies. The provision of 'contactless' services such as virtual tours and cloud exhibitions enable us to reduce operation costs, provide more tourism experiences and high-quality services, etc. Allows us to reduce the operating costs, expand tourist experience, strengthen our ability to provide high-quality services, and respond flexibly to emergencies such as epidemic outbreaks. It is important that with the help of such innovation that it will be possible to create a new and high-quality tourism environment and increase the overall level of development of tourism facilities in our countries."

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of SCO. It has already become a large, sub-regional international organization uniting almost a half of the world's population and covering 60% of the Eurasian continent. Regarding SCO's rich tourism resources, Vladimir Norov noted: "A distinct feature of our countries that are members of the SCO family is the inexhaustible natural, cultural and historical heritages of the peoples."

Currently, SCO has established close partnerships with the World Tourism Cities Federation and the UN World Tourism Organization. In this context, Vladimir Norov suggested making a trilateral cooperation outline to fully implement all agreements reached within the cooperative framework and to boost tourism development amidst the pandemic.