The Committee of Experts of the WTCF Founded in Beijing

On June 25, 2013, the Committee of Experts of the WTCF was founded at BTG Fragrant Hill Hotel. Cheng Hong, Deputy Mayor of Beijing and Lu Yong, Secretary General of the WTCF and Director of the Beijing Tourism Development Committee attended the meeting.

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Guests present and Committee members of the Expert Committee of the WTCF took a picture together.

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Experts present were discussing issues such as the “Expert Committee Charter”

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The Expert Committee is the top consultancy organization and insight group and is made up of 15 experts and scholars from well-known global tourism organizations and tourism colleges. It is to provide brainstorming support for the WTCF and promote the development of global tourism cities via academic research activities.

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Deputy Mayor of Beijing Cheng Hong attended the meeting

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Deputy Mayor Cheng Hong gave her warm congratulations towards the foundation of the Expert Committee. She said that the foundation of the Expert Committee provides a solid academic platform for the WTCF and exerts a positive and profound influence on improving the levels of academic research of the WTCF, promoting the progress of democratized and scientific decision-making processes and benefitted by receiving suggestions from experts. She also expressed her hope to work together with member cities and organizations to make the WTCF a Davos Forum in the global tourism industry.

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Secretary General of WTCF and Director of Beijing Tourism Committee Lu Yong attended the meeting

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Lu Yong, Secretary General of the WTCF and Director of the Beijing Tourism Committee pointed out that the foundation of the Expert Committee helps provide a powerful insight support arm for forming standard service regulations, standard service beliefs, convenient service methods and an effective communication mechanism in the WTCF. It holds a high reputation in the tourism industry and academia. This helps lay a solid foundation for WTCF’s further performance and realization of scientific development. The efforts of the experts will be much obliging in providing wisdom support for the WTCF, academic achievement and standard regulations and direction which can lead to the sustainable development of world tourism cities.

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Deputy Mayor Cheng Hong awarded Wei Xiao’an the Name Board of the Expert Committee at the meeting

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In the meeting, Director of Academic Committee of China Tourism Academy and Professor at Minzu University of China was elected Chairman of the Expert Committee, Professor Morrison from Purdue University, Professor Zhang Hui from Beijing Jiaotong University and Professor Zou Tongqian, Head of Hospitality Travel and Tourism Management at Beijing International Studies University were elected Vice Chairmen of the Expert Committee.

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Discussions about the “Expert Committee Charter” were carried out at the meeting. Experts present brainstormed and expressed their own points of views. Chairman of the Expert Committee Wei Xiao’an concluded the role, the function and objectives of the Expert Committee that is a constant organization of the WTCF with the nature of public welfare. It is a platform to provide academic communications among member cities. Wei Xiaoan expressed four objectives while discussing issues on carrying out daily work. First, the appraisal system on world tourism cities will be discussed and published annually. Second, the annual report on the development of world tourism cities will be made available each year. Third, daily communication mechanisms will be established to strengthen the communication and mutual comprehension between expert members. The last is to research issues of the WTCF and development plans of the city members and to report the research achievement results on time. In-depth discussions were undertaken in the afternoon concerning the “World Tourism City Evaluation System”, the “Fundamental Framework of World Tourism City Service (Beijing Consensus)” and others.

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The “Fundamental Framework of World Tourism City Service (Beijing Consensus)” is to be published during the Second Fragrant Hills Summit in September, 2013 to set up the fundamental regulations of tourism service for each city. The evaluation system of the 2013 world tourism cities will also be published at that time to be active in promoting the announcement of world tourism city ranks.