WTCF Attends Multiple Activities of The 1st World Conference on Tourism for Development

The 1st World Conference on Tourism for Development, co-hosted by Chinese government and United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) was held in Beijing. On May 19th, Li Keqiang (Prime Minister of China) addressed the opening ceremony, held at the Great Hall of the People, and Ban Ki-moon (UN Secretary-General) sent a congratulatory letter to the Conference. 600 foreign representatives from 107 countries; leaders of international organizations; people in charge of China’s related ministries and commissions, provinces, districts and cities, tourism research institutions and academies, and large tourism enterprises. Nearly one thousand of Chinese and foreign journalists gathered in Beijing to attend the Conference with a topic of “Tourism for Development and Peace” to jointly discuss the development of world tourism.

Before the opening ceremony, Premier Li Keqiang met representatives of WTCF, other international organizations, and more than 70 above-ministerial-level officials, and then took a group photo together.

On May 18th, at the welcome dinner hosted by China National Tourism Administration and Beijing Municipal People's Government, Mr. Wang Anshun, Chairman of the WTCF Council and Mayor of Beijing, Mr. Taleb Rifai, Secretary-General of UNWTO, etc., took a group photo in front of the display board.

This Conference includes some important events, such as, a promotion evening, an opening ceremony, keynote speeches, a summit forum, a conference for tourism ministers of G20. At the summit forum themed “Tourism for Peace,” Gonzalo Robredo, Executive Director, Tourism Office of the city of Buenos Aires was invited to deliver a speech as the representative for the holder of vice president of WTCF.

With a high standard and great representativeness, this conference is a top event in the field of world tourism development held in China, and is the first one of its kind in the world.

Since its foundation in 2012, benefiting from the sustainable development of China’s tourism and world tourism, WTCF has recruited a growing number of members from five continents, and has been widely recognized by the members and the industry. With the help of the platform provided by WTCF, countries and cities communicate with each other via tourism, accept the diversity of cultures and lifestyles, thus promoting the development of world tourism and world economy and improve people’s well-being, which corresponds to the theme of this Conference on Tourism for Development, “Tourism for Sustainable Development, Poverty Alleviation, and Peace.”

Tourism across the world shares common prosperity. In the trend of sustainable development for world tourism, WTCF will surely usher in new developments!