Forum of "Building a New Mode of City Tourism": Exploring Reform and Development of Tourism Cities under the New Normal of Pandemic Prevention and Control

The forum of "Building a New Mode of City Tourism"

On 3 September 2021, Beijing witnessed the opening of 2021 WTCF Beijing Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit & World Conference on Tourism Cooperation and Development, one of the summit forums during the 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS). It was organized by the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) and the People's Government of Beijing Municipality together with the world's major international organizations and tourism institutions. At the event, the forum of "Building a New Mode of City Tourism" highlighted discussion on how global tourism cities shall vigorously deal with the new context of pandemic prevention and control.

Song Rui, Director of the Tourism Research Center, CASS, moderates the forum

Wei Xiaoan, Chief Expert of WTCF Expert Committee, gives a keynote speech at the forum

The forum was moderated by Song Rui, Director of the Tourism Research Center, CASS. Wei Xiaoan, Chief Expert of WTCF Expert Committee, gave a keynote speech. He noted that under the new normal of pandemic prevention and control, new consumption phenomenon are becoming more common, such as urban leisure, popular micro-vacation in rural areas and overseas consumption backflow. Cities in Europe, America and China have been adjusting tourism modes to meet the new consumption needs. Currently, long-distance tourism, coastal tourism and cruise tourism are yet to recover. In this case, he suggested that the world tourism cities should build new tourism modes featuring development of surrounding tourism markets, local tourism and "internal circulation".

Sandra Carvao, Chief of Market Intelligence and Competitiveness, UNWTO, delivers a keynote speech via the video

Sandra Carvao, Chief of Market Intelligence and Competitiveness, UNWTO, delivered a keynote speech via the video. Currently, the world prefers domestic tourism to outbound tourism, and micro-vacation and leisure in surrounding cities are more popular than long-distance tourism. In this context, Sandra Carvao believed it's right for WTCF to focus on domestic tourism markets. "Obviously, we have an important goal, namely promoting international tourism recovery. But at the same time, we should focus on developing domestic markets to support balanced development of domestic and international markets". She also suggested enhancing tourism mobility in cities' surrounding destinations via innovative technologies amidst the tourism recovery, strengthening cooperation between tourism and other sectors to provide safer city tourism experiences.

Ma Zheng, Deputy Director-General of Tianjin Municipal Bureau of Culture & Tourism, takes the floor

Cities are a core part of pandemic prevention and control as well as an important engine of tourism development. Amidst the pandemic, city tourism managers should focus on coordinating pandemic prevention and control with tourism development. Ma Zheng, Deputy Director-General of Tianjin Municipal Bureau of Culture & Tourism, noted that Tianjin not only vigorously promotes reservation-based tourism intended to avoid peak times and limit the number of visitors under the new normal of pandemic prevention and control, but also improves the supply of products and services quality by "innovative creation" (festive events, nice scenic spots and hot topics) and "vigorous introduction" (talents, capital and visitors), trying to enhance the appeal of local cultural tourism. Ma Zheng also suggested that Tianjin should enhance cooperation with Beijing and Hebei, help each other promote tourism destinations, cooperate further on developing quality tourism routes, in order to boost further coordinated tourism development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Anouar Chetoui, Chief Representative of Tunisian National Tourist Office Beijing, takes the floor

Cristiano Varotti, Chief Representative of Italian National Tourist Board Shanghai Office, takes the floor at the forum

Development of tourism cities relies heavily on the steady economic growth of their regions and countries. Ever since the abrupt COVID-19 outbreak, countries have taken a series of measures to help their tourism destination cities reduce losses and get through difficulties. Anouar Chetoui, Chief Representative of Tunisian National Tourist Office Beijing, stated that Tunisia formulates regulations on how tourism should deal with the pandemic and cooperates with tourism operators in Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Poland and other countries to mitigate the shock brought by COVID-19. Cristiano Varotti, Chief Representative of Italian National Tourist Board Shanghai Office, said Italy has offered fiscal subsidies to tourism enterprises, applied digital technologies to tourism services, surveyed and analyzed the status quo of tourism markets, in order to support the country’s quick tourism recovery and development.

Lei Haisu, Chairman of CTG Travel Services Corporation Limited

Wang Chunfeng, Vice President of Utour Group

The pandemic has dealt a blow to tourism cities. Notably, the shock is felt in tourism-related sectors, including civil aviation, hotels and restaurants. In order to tackle the challenge, numerous enterprises have taken measures to help themselves through, which in turn greatly enhances the recovery of tourism cities. Among them, China Tourism Group (CTG) has set a good example. Lei Haisu, Chairman of CTG Travel Services Corporation Limited, noted CTG has witnessed positive growth of operation revenues in 2021. This is attributed to its tariff-free and tourism real estate businesses. Wang Chunfeng, Vice President of Utour Group, pointed out that the pandemic has brought tourism the "Darkest Moment" but tourism enterprises should still shoulder social responsibility and ensure health and safety of tourists. Now, more and more tourism enterprises are beginning to show optimism and take vigorous action, in order to prepare for the long-term recovery of the sector.

Despite the pandemic, life has to go on. Tourism cities should focus on meeting needs in real life, tapping potential needs, and setting a trend for future needs. As Ma Zheng has said, the new normal of pandemic prevention and control has brought tourism managers and workers a new task, namely taking action to transform from extensive management to delicacy management, providing a variety of quality products, and applying innovative management models to enhance sustainable development of tourism cities.