Innovate City Branding to Elevate Tourism Excellence - WTCF Hong Kong Fragrant Hills Summit 2025 to Open Soon

The WTCF Hong Kong Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit 2025 (the "Summit" for short) is set to take place in Hong Kong from 14 to 17 April, themed "Innovate City Branding to Elevate Tourism Excellence". The Summit is hosted by the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) and the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and organized by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, the Secretariat of the WTCF and the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

Five major international tourism organizations will collaborate with the WTCF for the Summit, namely the UN Tourism, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), the European Travel Commission (ETC), and the Global Tourism Economy Forum (GTEF). The Summit this year will comprise several sections including the WTCF Council Meeting, the opening ceremony, the Mayors' Forum, the City Brand Building and Inbound Tourism Development Forum, the Hong Kong Tourism Development Forum, the Beijing-Hong Kong Tourism Trade Fair, and the Beijing Inbound Tourism Policy and Resources Promotion Conference, among others. Combining the WTCF's global reach with Hong Kong's status as a prominent international metropolis and a regional city of vital significance, the Summit will forge a platform for high-level and multi-disciplinary exchanges and cooperation. It is expected to further improve the global tourism landscape, meet tourists' diverse needs with products and experiences of higher quality, and breathe new life into the high-quality, sustainable development of tourism worldwide.

Sima Hong, Vice Mayor of Beijing and Executive Vice Chair of the WTCF Council, will address the opening ceremony, to contribute to forging industrial consensus and driving the long-term, steady, and prosperous growth of the tourism sectors worldwide. This Summit is poised to host over 800 distinguished guests from 60 cities of more than 40 countries, including the delegates of the WTCF's city members and institutional members, international organizations, tourism businesses, and media outlets, as well as experts and scholars.

The WTCF will unveil the Report on World Tourism Economy Trends (2025). This report offers a thorough review and analysis of the global tourism economy in 2024 and provides forward-looking predictions for 2025, aiming to equip all stakeholders and practitioners with insights into the state of global tourism and the dynamics of core industrial developments. The representatives will jointly issue the Hong Kong Initiative. The initiative calls for joint efforts in developing a new development pattern for the growth of tourism cities, which is deeply rooted in cultural inheritance and innovation, propelled by technologies, guided by the principle of sustainable development, supported by global collaboration, and underpinned by tourism security measures.

Inaugurated in Beijing, the WTCF stands as the world's first city-based international tourism organization. It consists of six sub-committees for tourism-related businesses, experts, media organizations, the cruise industry, civil aviation, and investment, respectively. The WTCF currently has 256 members spanning 87 countries and regions, comprising 168 city members and 88 institutional members. Guided by the core vision of "Better City Life through Tourism", it is committed to building exchange and cooperation platforms to share successful experiences in urban tourism development.

The Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit, an annual brand event of the WTCF, serves as a critical connector. Widely hailed as the premier cooperation platform for tourism cities, it enables seamless resource sharing and open dialogues among tourism cities and businesses, as well as exploration of new models and opportunities for tourism cooperation.