WTCF Secretary General Song Yu Had Talks about Further Cooperation with UNWTO Secretary General Taleb Rifai

On May 21st, Song Yu (WTCF Secretary General) met with Taleb Rifai, the UNWTO Secretary General, when he came to Beijing for the 1st World Conference on Tourism for Development.

First, Taleb Rifai spoke highly of the conference. He said, “Present at the conference are over 1,100 representatives from 170 countries, 154 of whom are officials at or above the vice-ministerial level.” He thought the conference was a historical, successful, and significant landmark.

Song Yu congratulated the success of the conference held in Beijing. He said that, “As an international organization, WTCF attended the opening ceremony of the conference, met with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and delivered a speech at the forum. As a member city, Beijing provided thoughtful and comprehensive services, displayed its charm to honor guests from various countries, and expanded its fame and influence.”

Taleb Rifai and Song Yu introduced their organizations respectively. According to Taleb Rifai, UNWTO was pushing the strategic cooperation agreement signed with WTCF at the Rabat & Fez Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit 2015, which includes specific research on city tourism performance appraisals. Rafil also mention that the project has been launched.

Taleb Rifai and Song Yu agreed that the two international organizations should support each other and strengthen in-depth cooperation including the invitations to activities and the linkages in academic and research work.Taleb Rifai invited its equal partner WTCF to the Fifth Global City Tourism Summit. Ministers of the Tourism Administration and mayors from different countries will participate in the summit, which is to be held in Egypt on November 1st and 2nd. Others present at the talks included Zhu Shanzhong (Executive Director of WTCF), Li Baochun (Deputy Secretary of WTCF), Carlos Vogeler (Executive Officer of Membership and Director of the Americas Affairs Department), Xu Jing (Executive Officer of the General Assembly and Executive Committee, and Director of the Department of Asia-Pacific Affairs) and other officials of UNWTO.