Secretary-General Song Yu and Delegation Visits the UN and NYC & Company

On September 22, WTCF Secretary-General Song Yu and his delegation visited the Headquarters of the United Nations, and met with Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, and conversed with Under-Secretary-General Liu Zhenmin on the issue of WTCF striving to obtain the Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

First, Secretary-General Song Yu introduced the development of WTCF since its foundation, saying, "After undergoing five years of development, WTCF now has 128 city members and 65 institutional members since the beginning of its foundation when it only had 58 members, and so it is regarded as the fastest-growing one among the international tourism organizations launched by China." He said that, since its foundation, WTCF has been caring about issues like diversification and sustainable development, sharing economy, globalization, the development of the world tourism cities, and so on. This orientation is in accordance with the UN's development objectives of eliminating poverty, striving to make equality possible in different areas, protecting the earth, and setting up a sustainable and inclusive society. WTCF continually releases all kinds of research results and city development cases to lead the new trend and direction of the global tourism development.

Under-Secretary-General Liu Zhenmin said he knew of WTCF, an international organization launched and founded by Beijing, and its contributions to reducing poverty and helping grow employment, and discussed sustainable development, increasing the benefits of the people, and other areas, by utilizing industrial advantages to serve international communities and tourism economic development. He was pleased about what WTCF has done. He hopes that WTCF can learn from the developing experiences of other international organizations, and combine its own advantages to seek the symmetrical international status with the development of Chinese tourism industry. When applying for the Consultative Status, WTCF needs to submit related materials according to the required procedure, cooperate with the non-governmental department of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, strengthen information communication, and perfect its work on applying for the Consultative Status.

Secretary-General Song Yu with his delegation also visited NYC & Company, and conversed with Daniel Rogan Kadishson, Director of Economic Development and Mayor’s Office for International Affairs; and Dena Libner, Senior Director, External Affairs and Public Partnerships of NYC & Company. Secretary-General Song Yu sincerely invited New York City to join WTCF, saying, "New York is a special city in the world and also a very influential tourism city. The 128 WTCF city members are from 51 nations. As an international organization with tourism cities as its main special focus, WTCF hopes New York will become one of its members, and work together to boost the development of the world tourism cities."

Dena Libner expressed her gratitude to the visit of Secretary-General Song Yu, saying that in recent years, the number of tourists visiting New York has the tendency of declining, but more Chinese visitors keep visiting the city. Although the immigration policy of the U.S. has been tightened, the number of Chinese tourists keeps increasing, and they have higher consumption habits. Therefore, NYC & Company pays close attention to the related situations of the international tourism organizations founded in China and Chinese tourists, and expressed its wish of deep cooperation with WTCF on academic research, case analysis, information sharing, event participation and other aspects. She also said that they will continuously submit materials to the city government and actively push forward for New York City to join WTCF.