Jining (Qufu) Forum on World Famous Cultural Tourism Cities 2022 Launched on 26 June

The Jining (Qufu) Forum on World Famous Cultural Tourism Cities 2022, an event co-hosted by the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF), Shandong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, and Jining Municipal People's Government, was held in Qufu, Jining, Shandong Province, on 26 June 2022. With the theme of "Promoting Communication and Mutual Learning among Civilizations, Building Famous Cultural Tourism Cities", the forum attracted diplomats from 18 countries' embassies and consulates, representatives of 13 tourism organizations and more than 60 tourism media outlets, and over 20 representatives of the member cities of WTCF. They discussed the new development trends, new products and new business patterns of cultural tourism markets, as well as the brand building of world-famous cultural tourism cities.

Sun Jiye, Deputy Governor of Shandong Province, delivered an opening speech.

Sun Jiye, Deputy Governor of Shandong Province, Xiao Zhengbo, Deputy Mayor of Changsha and a Representative of WTCF's City Member, Mustafa Tunç Soyer, Mayor of Izmir (Turkey) and a Representative of WTCF's City Member, and major leaders of Jining delivered opening speeches. Zhang Dong, Deputy Mayor of Jining City, presided over the opening ceremony. 

At the Special Forum Session themed "Strengthening Cultural Tourism Exchanges, and Promoting Communication and Mutual Learning among Civilizations", H.E. Hussam Al Husseini, Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to China, H.E. Arthayudh Srisamoot, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Thailand to China, H.E. Marie Roland Alain Wong Yen Cheong, Ambassador of the Republic of Mauritius to China, H.E. Dumitru Braghis, Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to China, and Hon. Jimena Jaen Baltodano, Chargé d'affaires, Embassy of the Republic of Costa Rica in China, expressed impressive views, which brought international perspectives and deep inspiration to the building of world-famous cultural tourism cities.

The Special Forum Session

In their keynote speeches, Wei Xiao'an, WTCF Chief Expert, and Wu Bihu, Professor of Peking University and WTCF Expert, elaborated on the development trends of cultural tourism markets and brand building of world-famous cultural tourism cities, offering science-based and visionary views on the urban construction of famous cultural cities.

At the Release Session, Du Yili, WTCF expert and the former Deputy Director-General of the China National Tourism Administration, released a document titled the "Study on the Development of World Famous Cultural Tourism Cities", which introduced and summarized the construction experience of six world-famous cultural tourism cities including Beijing.  Executive Deputy Secretary-General of WTCF Li Baochun read the "Jining (Qufu) Forum on World Famous Cultural Tourism Cities - Nishan Declaration".  The forum's declaration encouraged the world tourism cities to promote the high-quality utilization of cultural resources, explore new ways of cultural expression and dissemination, and strengthen exchanges and cooperation among the world-famous cultural tourism cities.

The participating guests

The Panel Discussion Session was moderated by Zeng Bowei, Professor of Beijing Union University and WTCF Expert, and Shen Xiaoyu, WTCF Director of Research & Training Department. Smail Halfaoui, Economic Counselor of the Embassy of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria in China, Sanju Dasanayake, Second Secretary, Embassy of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka in China, Mansoor Mohamed, Asia Pacific Hub Head of South African Tourism, Lily Yang, Business Development Manager, North & North East China of Saudi Tourism Authority, Jill Xie, Vice President of Tongcheng Holdings Co., Ltd. and Director of Tongcheng Research Center, Wang Degang, Vice President of China Tourism Association and President of Shandong Tourism Trade Association, Xu Xing, President of China Tourism News, Kevin Zhang, General Manager of Channel Beijing Branch, Trip.com, Zou Feng, Managing Partner of Tourism Capital, Lu Mengxi, General Manager of Culture & Tourism Government-Enterprise Cooperation Center of Meituan, held in-depth discussions on the two themes, namely "New Development Trend of Cultural Tourism Market: New Product and Business Pattern" and "Brand Building of World Famous Cultural Tourism Cities".

This forum is the first event of the "Forum on World Famous Cultural Tourism Cities", aiming to strengthen the building of world-famous cultural tourism cities, enhance the exchanges and mutual learning among the civilizations represented by the world tourism cities, boost the development of the world tourism cities, and bolster the sustainable development of the world tourism cities.