Better City Life through Tourism: WTCF's Exhibition Area at 2024 CIFITS Receives Accolades from Mayors from Numerous Countries

The 2024 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) was launched in Beijing on September 12. As one of the thematic forums held during the CIFTIS, the World Conference on Tourism Cooperation and Development 2024 hosted by the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) was also launched on the same day. In the meantime, to fully present the history of WTCF, the Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit and other brand events, as well as achievements, WTCF also set up booths inside the No. 4 Blast Furnace at Shougang Park to launch an exhibition themed "Tourism Boosts Civilization Mutual Learning Among Cities".

The booths adopted blue-green as the main tone with matching white to offer a sense of warmth and comfort.

To present the diversified charm of tourism from different perspectives, WTCF invited ten member cities, namely Torino, Marbella, Punta Cana, Machupicchu, Garoua, Bogota, Belgrade, Athens, Asti, and Almaty to set up exclusive booths to demonstrate their features in a unique way. On the morning of September 13, Yang Shuo, WTCF's Secretary-General and Director General of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism invited a delegation of mayors, including Domenico Carretta, Deputy Mayor of Torino, Italy, as well as a delegation of the heads of tourism authorities, including Miodrag Popovic, CEO of Tourist Organization of Belgrade of Serbia, to enter the exhibition area to witness the achievements of WTCF over the 12 years since its establishment. Yang suggested that he hopes to, in conjunction with different parties, promote exchanges among cities and cultures, strengthen cooperation in the cultural tourism sector, and make bigger contributions to building a community with shared future for mankind.

Tourism brochures in different styles

A photo taken in the area for the promotion of members' resources

The exhibition booths each present distinctive offers. At the exclusive booths in the area for the promotion of members' resources, the representatives of ten member cities promoted their local cultural and tourism features. Delegation members engaged in close discussions and all praised the design and content of this exhibition.

A group photo of Yang Shuo (left) and Elvis Lexin La Torre Uñacori

"It's very ingenious to hold such an exhibition in the industrial remains of Shougang Park, allowing us to demonstrate the achievements of tourism sectors in a rather novel way." Elvis Lexin La Torre Uñacori, Mayor of Machupicchu, Peru, couldn't help praising the event.

Andrés Santamaría Garrido, Managing Director of IDT Bogota of Colombia said, "The exhibition area is very well designed with warm and comfortable colors and rich content. It even utilizes AI in a brilliant way to fully demonstrate the trend of diversity of and co-existence within the eco-system of tourism."

A group photo featuring Maurizio Rasero, Governor of Asti Province and Mayor of Asti City, Italy in front of the booth

WTCF's exhibition area mainly demonstrated the history of WTCF and its achievements in promoting exchanges among tourism cities, cooperation among its members, and international tourism investment and financing, among other aspects, demonstrating the international image of WTCF in a vivid and comprehensive way. The technological application experience area meanwhile promoted the modes of technological tourism and virtual tourism models through interactive programs, allowing visitors to behold gorgeous views around the world in an immersive fashion.

Visitors participating in the interactive programs

As the world's first international tourism organization initiated by Beijing and dedicated to cities, since its establishment in 2012, WTCF has been continuously working on building platforms and promoting cooperation. The number of its members has grown from the initial 58 to the current 246, covering 86 countries and regions worldwide. Among them, there are 164 city members and 82 institutional and cooperative members. There are also 357 committee members across six sub-committees. After years of development, WTCF has demonstrated ever-greater attractiveness, service capability, guidance capability, and influence in the global tourism industry, earning it the reputation of being the "fastest-growing international tourism organization".

(Article by Zhen Jingyuan)