Forum on New Horizon of Cultural Tourism & Conference of WTCF Committees of Tourism-related Businesses, Civil Aviation, Investment, and Cruise Industry Successfully Concluded

The venue of the Event

From 7 to 9 December 2023, the Forum on New Horizon of Cultural Tourism & Conference of WTCF Committees of Tourism-related Businesses, Civil Aviation, Investment, and Cruise Industry (hereinafter collectively referred to as the "Event"), hosted by the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) and supported by Nanjing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau, was successfully convened in Nanjing. Li Baochun, Executive Deputy Secretary-General of WTCF, Peter Semone, Chair of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), Xie Guoqing, Director of Nanjing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau, and leaders from nearly 50 institutional members of WTCF sub-committees of tourism-related businesses, civil aviation, investment, and cruise industry attended this Event. The Event aimed to pool wisdom and efforts to jointly promote the sustainable and accelerated development of China's inbound tourism. The event featured the release of an initiative on inbound tourism collaboration, signing ceremony of cooperation agreements, release of cultural and tourism products, keynote speeches, sofa forums, tourism promotions, tourism trade fairs, etc., attracting 200 domestic and international guests from nearly 100 cultural and tourism enterprises.

Li Baochun, Executive Deputy Secretary-General of WTCF, mentioned in his opening remark that 2023 is a year for the global tourism industry to fully recover and thrive. As of this year, three trends in the development of the tourism markets in China and the Asia-Pacific region stand out: first, the facilitation of inbound policy; second, the customization of the tourism market; and third, the deepening of cooperation among tourism enterprises. Li expressed his hope that by leveraging WTCF as an international platform and the resources of its sub-committees, the growth of both the inbound and outbound tourism markets would be boosted, the recovery of the global tourism industry would be accelerated, with greater vitality to be injected into the development of the international tourism market and more opportunities to be created.

Peter Semone, Chair of PATA, said in his speech that China's previous trial visa-free policy for inbound tourism for citizens of six countries, namely France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Malaysia, has provided significant opportunities for travel destinations within China. Semone continued that PATA will remain committed to working with WTCF and the tourism industry in China to further improve the quality and quantity of inbound tourists.

Xie Guoqing, Director of Nanjing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau, emphasized that the Bureau will continue to boost the willingness of overseas tourists to visit Nanjing and drive the sustainable and high-quality development of inbound tourism by strengthening the overseas image promotion of the city's travel destinations, bolstering the research and development on tourism routes and products, comprehensively improving the brand effect of inbound tourism, MICE tourism, etc., and enhancing the industry's resilience and service quality.

Li Baochun, Executive Deputy Secretary-General of WTCF, delivers a speech.

Peter Semone, Chair of PATA, delivers a speech.

Xie Guoqing, Director of Nanjing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau, delivers a speech.

At the event, Yan Han, Deputy Secretary-General of WTCF, unveiled the Initiative for Inbound Tourism Collaboration of Cultural Belts. This initiative, jointly drafted by the two international tourism organizations, aims to strengthen the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by WTCF and PATA, which is included in the List of Practical Cooperation Deliverables of the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, facilitate exchanges and cooperation among tourism cities, and the high-quality development of China's inbound tourism industry. Initiatives on the inbound tourism collaboration of the Yangtze River cultural tourism belt, inbound tourism collaboration of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cultural tourism belt, and inbound tourism collaboration of the Yellow River cultural tourism belt were signed by nine members of WTCF. The inbound tourism products of the Yangtze River cultural tourism belt and the "Guests in the City" routes were also released.

Yan Han releasing the Initiative for Inbound Tourism Collaboration of Cultural Belts

The signing ceremony of the Initiative for Inbound Tourism Collaboration of Cultural Belts

The Event, through its fruitful outcomes, showcased the current trend that the global tourism industry is recovering and developing. It plays a bridging role in fostering cooperation and exchanges among tourism cities, promoting the prosperity and development of China's inbound tourism, and enhancing international cultural integration, mutual learning of civilizations, and people-to-people communication.

WTCF is the world's first international tourism organization centered around tourism cities. Headquartered in Beijing, it has a total of 244 members, including 164 city members and 80 institutional members, and 337 branch members, covering 85 countries and regions. WTCF comprises six sub-committees including the Committee of Tourism-Related Businesses, the Committee of Civil Aviation, the Committee of Investment, and the Committee of Cruise Industry, which cover the entire industry chain of the tourism sector. Together with the six sub-committees, WTCF will continue to broaden the developmental visions of its members via information connectivity across various professional fields, thus contributing to the flourishing growth of the global tourism economy and boosting the development of the international tourism market.