WTCF Hosts a Discussion Themed 'Global Cross-Border Tourism Trends and Prospects' at WTM London

From November 5 to 7, the World Travel Mart 2024 was successfully held at ExCel London in the United Kingdom. As a content partner of this international exhibition, the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) was invited to host a discussion themed "Global Cross-Border Tourism Trends and Prospects", to introduce Beijing's inbound tourism policies and other relevant measures, and to share its excellent experiences as a tourism city in promoting cross-border tourism from the perspectives of economy, culture, society, environment and others.

The forum featured two sections: a promotion section titled "Beijing Inbound Tourism" and a panel discussion. In the promotion section, WTCF briefed on a raft of policies and measures Beijing implements to promote inbound tourism, including visa-free entry for inbound tourists, enhancement of convenient payment services, provision of better products for inbound tourists, improvement of service quality for international travelers, improvement of airport accessibility, and launch of portal websites with a diverse range of information. The key factors in promoting cross-border tourism development, from the perspective of urban inbound tourism, were also featured during the section. The representative of WTCF also shared information on major overseas marketing campaigns of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, such as "Joyful Dragon for a Happy Chinese New Year" and "Hello, Beijing", to allow people around the world to feel Beijing's cultural charm and its warm hospitality.

During the panel discussion, WTCF invited some representatives from its members, such as Lola Ade-John, former Nigerian Minister of Tourism, Rob Lang, Head of Marketing of Edinburgh Airport, and Fernando Amer, Director for Tourism Promotion of Visit Buenos Aires, to discuss in depth the good practices and cases of tourism cities in promoting global cross-border tourism development. Ade-John shared the major opportunities and challenges that Nigeria faces in promoting cross-border tourism development in West Africa, as well as its successful cases of cross-border tourism cooperation with neighboring countries. Lang highlighted the important roles of governments and technologies in promoting cross-border tourism development by elaborating on Edinburgh's efforts to enhance urban cultural heritage preservation, improve visitor experiences by using smart city technologies, etc. Amer shared how Buenos Aires had leveraged cross-border partnerships to boost regional tourism growth, and how the city used digital technologies to boost cross-border tourism development.