A Letter about Soliciting Promotional Materials from Member Cities for Promotion Through Social Media Accounts

To all member cities of WTCF:

To supply better services to the member cities, propagate their city images and distinctive tourist products and promote cultural exchanges and mutual learning, the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF), adhering to the concept of "Better City Life through Tourism", opened the official accounts respectively on the international and Chinese social media platforms, such as Facebook, YouTube, Douyin (Tik Tok in China) and Kuaishou (Kwai in China).

Each of WTCF's social media accounts consists of such columns as Member News, Destinations (Tourism Promotion of Member Cities), "Check Out! Hidden Travel Gems' (promotion of scenic spots and holiday resorts), Fantastic Discovery Series (Scenery, Cuisine, Architecture, Art, Vessel), and give precise promotion according to different features and audiences of the social media. Through two years of operation and maintenance, all social media achieved sustainable growth in the number of followers, continuous improvement in influence and propagation force and increasingly obvious promotion effect. Currently, more than 20 international tourist cities, including London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Milan, Hamburg, Zurich, and St. Petersburg and 16 Chinese cities, including Beijing, Chongqing, Xi'an, Harbin, and Yangzhou have been promoted in such aspects as city promotion, festivals, scenic spots, popular must-visit destinations, specialty cuisine, cultural relics, and tourism news. Some videos have more than 400,000 views and thousands of interactions.  

The brief introduction to the social media accounts is as follows:

Facebook account: Taking the brief images and texts as the major promotion mode, it consists of such columns as WTCF News, City News, Festivals, Destinations and Hot News. The audiences are mainly official accounts of members and cultural tourism institutions, We Media bloggers, tourism and cultural enthusiasts, etc. The centralized and efficient promotion of WTCF via the official brands helps show images and cultural tourism resources of member cities internationally and increases the market stickiness.

YouTube account: English and Chinese short videos show the images of WTCF and its members vividly and directly. It consists of such columns as Fantastic Discovery Series (Scenery, Cuisine, Architecture, Art, Vessel), City News, Destinations, and WTCF News. The audiences are mainly official accounts of members and cultural tourism institutions, We Media bloggers, tourism and cultural enthusiasts, etc. It is helpful to internationally present cultural and tourism resources and featured products of member cities and promote Chinese-foreign cultural exchanges and mutual learning.

Douyin (Tik Tok in China) account: As the biggest short video platform in China, Tik Tok owns the largest young user group. It consists of Fantastic Discovery Series (Scenery, Vessel, Architecture), Destinations, Cultural Travel and WTCF News. The audiences are mainly official accounts of members and cultural tourism institutions, We Media travel bloggers, tourism enthusiasts, Chinese tourists with travel experience, etc. Video views are generally over 100,000 times. With strong audience interaction and participation, it is helpful to present high-quality tourism resources of member cities better, promote local cultural publicity and recommend classical tourist routes and cultural and tourism products.

Kuaishou (Kwai in China) Account: As the short video platform focusing on the broadest Chinese group in lower-tier cities, Kuaishou (Kwai in China) has a lifestyle in content and a better advantage in cultural communication. It consists of such columns as Fantastic Discovery Series (Art, Cuisine), Destinations, Festivals and WTCF News. The audiences are mainly official accounts of members and cultural tourism institutions, We Media bloggers, tourism and cultural enthusiasts, etc. Video views are generally over 100,000 times. The audiences are willing to interact and share the related contents, which helps present the cities' images better and promote the featured tourism resources and products better.

We are currently soliciting relevant promotional materials from member cities. Since this solicitation is not a commercial promotion, no fees will be charged. The requirements for videos are as follows:

1. The video format is mp4/avi/mov, with a resolution of 1920 * 1080 or higher.

2. The content includes but is not limited to: Urban tourism promotional videos in the past three years, promotional videos for scenic spots, museums, and tourism activities; photos and videos of activities and news that happened within a week.

3. All materials (including texts, photos and videos) shall apply to laws and regulations, and shall not infringe upon any third-party intellectual properties or other legitimate rights. For member cities using third-party intellectual property such as others’ works/portraits in their materials, they shall ensure that the original authors/copyright owners/portrait owners/other intellectual property owners have no objection to the publication and use of such materials on the WTCF’s publishing platform (including publication and use after secondary editing). If any third party initiates legal or administrative proceedings claiming that such materials or the use of such materials by WTCF violates applicable laws and regulations, or infringes on its intellectual property rights, and other personal and property rights, the member city submitting such materials shall be responsible for resolving the issue. Once the material is submitted, it is deemed that it agrees to be published and used by WTCF, and secondary editing is allowed.

4. How to submit: Submit to email: publicity@wtcf.org.cn; or submit to the Member Information Submission System (See the Attachment for further information: Submission System Flow).

Attachment: Submission System Flow