International Forum on “One Belt One Road & Tourism Cooperation” was Held in Altay

On January 16, International Forum on “One Belt One Road & Tourism Cooperation” 2016 was opened in Altay, Xinjiang. The forum was jointly organized by World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF), Xinjiang Tourism Bureau and Altay Administrative Office. Through uniting experts and scholars, the forum was aimed at further strengthening exchange and cooperation in cross-border tourism, ice-snow tourism and high-end custom tourism between world tourism cities, under the strategic framework of “One Belt One Road”.

More than 150 experts, scholars and officials from China National Tourism Administration, provincial tourism bureaus and WTCF attended the forum, and they had heated discussions about hot topics on the development of world tourism industry like cross-border tourism, ice-snow tourism and high-end custom tourism.

Under the strategic background of “One Belt One Road”, Altay Prefecture has been included in Xinjiang Silk Road’s north passage construction, and its target is building an international tourism distribution center, a sub-center of medical services and a regional hub city. With the help of WTCF, Pacific Asia Travel Association and the cooperation mechanism of six parties in four countries, Altay Prefecture will boost multilateral tourism cooperation, increase mutual trust and strengthen friendship, in order to jointly develop the tourism industry and share its fruits. As one of the initial members of WTCF and one of the most important tourism areas in Xinjiang, Altay has rich tourism resources and relatively big development space.

Cao Zhiwen, member of CPC Altay Prefectural Committee and Deputy Commissioner of Altay Administrative Office attended the forum and briefly introduced Altay’s geography, population, environment and tourism development prospect etc. He said that in 2013, Xi Jinping, CPC General Secretary put forward strategic conceptions of constructing the “New Silk Road Economic Belt” and the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” successively, emphasizing that related countries should build a mutually beneficial and win-win “community of interests” and a jointly developing and prospering “community of a common destiny”.

The 13th Five Year Plan period is a key stage for Altay to dig its potential power in tourism industry. As an important part of Silk Road Economic Belt, Altay will fully harness its resource advantages in environment, ice-snow, folk culture and cross-border tourism, insisting on the development concepts of high-end, characteristic, green, open and sharing. Based on the construction of the “Altay One Thousand Miles Gallery”, and with “the three most” as its standards, Altay will spare no efforts in promoting the development of tourism and develop the tourism industry into a strategic pillar industry and people-enriching industry in the regional development of economy and society. Meanwhile, combining the geographical facts of Altay, Cao Zhiwen put forward eight tourism development forms during the 13th Five Year Plan period, namely winter tourism, cross-border tourism, self-driving tourism, high-end custom tourism, general aviation, health care, cultural tourism and regionally characteristic tourist commodities, according to which he analyzed and expounded Altay’s future tourism development conceptions in detail.

Song Yu, WTCF Secretary-General was quite optimistic about the prospect of developing high-end custom tourism put forward by Altay. He said that Altay is a pure land with clear sky and clean water, and its good environment makes it a yearning place for urban residents. Altay putting forward developing high-end custom tourism is a wise act corresponding to the future tourism development trend and in conformity to the practical needs of Altay’s sustainable development. Song Yu also said that the forum held this time would be a great boost for elevating Altay’s tourism publicity and influence.

Tao Junying, team leader of Discipline Inspection Commission, Xinjiang Tourism Bureau, expressed that Altay is rich in tourism resources and its development foundation of tourism industry is relatively solid. In 2015, Altay received seven million tourists in total, a 49% increase on year-on-year basis, and Altay’s tourism income reached CNY 5.3 billion, a 54% increase on year-on-year basis. In addition, Altay has been approved to build China’s Altai Mountains cross-border tourism cooperation area.

During the forum, WTCF Signed a Memo of Agreement with Altay Administrative Office; tourism bureaus of Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Jilin and Heilongjiang signed a “Cooperative Action Plan of China-Mongolia-Russia Cross-border Tourism Promotion Alliance in China”; Altay government signed a “Project Agreement of Altay’s Heli-skiing and Four-season Resort”. Experts, scholars and officials who attended the forum also attended the opening ceremony of the Fifth Altay International Ice-snow Festival. The festival is held between November 2015 and April 2016, lasting almost half a year.