Minister of State of the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation of Maldives Leads a Delegation to Visit the Secretariat of the World Tourism Cities Federation

On the morning of July 3, 2026, H.E. Haris Mohamed, Minister of State of the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation (MOTCA) of Maldives, headed a delegation consisting of principal representatives from Visit Maldives Corporation (VMC), Maldives Airports Company Limited, Island Aviation Services Limited, National Boating Association of Maldives (NBAM) and other institutions for a visit to the Secretariat of the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF). The two sides held a working meeting. Mr. Chen Bo from the WTCF Secretariat, Mr. Wen Wei, Deputy Secretary-General of Beijing Culture and Tourism Association and Secretary-General of the Travel Agency Branch, representatives from U-Tour Group and other tourism enterprises, as well as relevant officials of the WTCF Secretariat attended the meeting.

During the meeting, Mr. Chen Bo extended a warm welcome to Minister Haris Mohamed and his delegation, and briefed them on the WTCF’s development history, membership system, brand events, academic research and formulation of international standards. He noted that the WTCF has been committed to building a platform for exchanges and cooperation among tourism cities worldwide to advance pragmatic cooperation between member cities and the tourism industry. Taking this meeting as an opportunity, he expressed the hope that this meeting would serve as an opportunity to further deepen exchanges and cooperation with the  Maldivian tourism authorities and industry partners. He welcomed  more tourism cities of Maldives to join the WTCF, and invited the Minister and Maldivian tourism enterprises to attend the World Conference on Tourism Cooperation and Development 2026 to be held in Beijing this September. Leveraging the platform provided by WTCF, both sides could explore cooperation opportunities in academic research, conference exchanges, tourism promotion and international standard-setting.

Minister Haris Mohamed thanked the WTCF for the thoughtful arrangements and warm reception, and commended the remarkable achievements made by WTCF in recent years, including advancing international tourism exchanges and cooperation, hosting the Fragrant Hills Tourism Summits, and formulating the international standard Brand Evaluation — Tourism Cities. He stated that the delegation brings together representatives from Maldives’ tourism promotion, aviation, airport, shipping and hospitality sectors, aiming to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China’s tourism industry and broaden bilateral cooperation. Looking ahead, Maldives hopes to enhance communication with the WTCF, take an active part in its signature events, explore the possibility of hosting the WTCF events in Maldives, and deepen cooperation covering tourism destination promotion, tourism market development, academic research, tourism data sharing, cultural tourism product development and business tourism resource development, so as to further raise the profile of Maldives as a tourist destination in the Chinese market.

On the sidelines of the meeting, the Maldivian delegation also had in-depth exchanges with the Beijing Culture and Tourism Association and representatives of multiple Beijing-based tourism enterprises. The two sides exchanged views on tourism promotion, mutual tourist source exchanges, product development and market collaboration, and voiced positive intentions to strengthen communication and docking for expanded pragmatic cooperation.