Sohail Khan, Deputy Secretary-General of SCO, Addresses the Opening Ceremony of the World Conference on Tourism Cooperation and Development 2022

Sohail Khan, Deputy Secretary-General of SCO

Dear Mr. Rao Quan,

Dear Mr. Cheng Jining,

Your Excellencies,

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,

Allow me to warmly welcome you and express my special appreciation to the World Federation of Tourism Cities for organizing this event in a hybrid format, given the circumstances in which we all still find ourselves due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The last two years have been a real test for the tourism industry, not only in the SCO countries, but worldwide, while highlighting the crucial importance of tourism and the hospitality industry for the social and economic life of our countries, as the difficulties caused by the pandemic directly affected the companies involved in this industry and disrupted direct contacts between people, especially tourists.

Experts from the World Tourism Organization, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimate that the volume of international tourism in the first quarter of 2022 was only 39% of the 2019 level, but the industry now is gradually recovering. International arrivals are expected to reach 55-70% of pre-pandemic levels by the end of the year, which is especially important for countries with a revenue share of more than 20% from tourism activities.

In this context, we consider the theme of this Conference to be highly relevant. It is now important to continue to support joint efforts to resuscitate harmonise, coordinate and digitalise measures to protect health of the industry.

Distinguished participants,

Despite the pandemic and existing limitations, SCO Member States continue to cooperate in the field of tourism through existing mechanisms. Over the past period, a documented framework for such cooperation has been established. The meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State in Tashkent on 24 June 2016 approved a programme for cooperation in tourism, a memorandum with the UNWTO was signed on the margins of the 2018 Qingdao summit, and last year, under the presidency of Tajikistan, a Joint Action Plan was adopted to implement the SCO Tourism Cooperation Programme 2022-2023 in the new environment.

In particular, this Plan envisages improving the quality of tourism services, developing security systems in tourism in the SCO member states, introducing digital technologies in tourism, facilitating inbound tourism policies, developing professional training systems for the hospitality industry in the SCO member states.

This year for the first time the city of Varanasi (the Republic of India) will be declared the SCO Tourism and Cultural Capital for the period of India's presidency in 2022-2023. An agreement on development of cooperation in tourism between governments of SCO member states will also be signed on the margins of the SCO summit in Samarkand in September.

All these documents demonstrate the Organisation's interest in speedy recovery of the tourism industry, development of tourism potential, as well as mutual enhancement of tourist flows among the SCO member states.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The pandemic has brought great difficulties and challenges to all countries. At the same time, it is clear that additional opportunities are emerging from the application of modern information and communication technologies.

The provision of "touchless" services, such as virtual tours, "cloud exhibitions", etc., can reduce operational costs, enhance the tourism experience and strengthen the ability to provide quality services and respond flexibly to emergencies. Importantly, with such innovations, it will be possible to create a new and quality tourism environment and improve the overall level of development of tourism facilities in our countries.

In conclusion, we would like to acknowledge the efforts of the World Federation of Tourist Cities to create conditions for the early recovery of tourist flows. We are grateful to the Federation for its work and look forward to continued cooperation, as only joint promotion and cooperation are the main incentives for further recovery and development of the tourism industry under the new conditions.

I wish the Organizers a productive and successful outcome of this Conference.

Thank you for your attention.