Remarks by Mr. Chen Jining, Chairman of WTCF Council and Acting Mayor of Beijing

Honorable Mr. Chairman Li Jinzao,

Honorable Mr. Director Zhu Shanzhong,

Fellow WTCF members,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon. It gives me great pleasure to join you in the famous City of Angels, Los Angeles. First of all, on behalf of WTCF, I would like to extend my warm congratulations on the convening of the Los Angels Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit and warm welcome to all the WTCF members, guests and friends present. I also want to thank the city of Los Angeles for its tremendous efforts in preparation for the summit.

Since its establishment in 2012 in Beijing, thanks to the vigorous support of the Chinese government and international tourism organizations and the concerted efforts of all member cities, WTCF has followed the core vision of Better City Life through Tourism, and committed itself to promoting exchanges and cooperation among world tourism cities. The participation of WTCF members in global tourism governance has given a strong boost to the sustainable development of world cities. As of today, the number of WTCF members has increased from the original 58 to 193, including 128 cities from 62 countries and regions on all five continents and 65 institutions covering the whole tourism industrial chain. Through these efforts, WTCF has grown into the most promising and highly influential global international tourism organization. I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to the UNWTO, PATA, tourism departments of all countries and fellow WTCF member cities for their long-standing support to the development of WTCF.

The Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit is held annually, and provides an important platform for exchange and cooperation among world tourism cities. To date, we have successfully held the Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit in five different member cities, and achieved many important outcomes such as the Beijing Declaration, Beijing Consensus and Chongqing Declaration, which have played an important role in deepening cooperation among world tourism cities and promoting tourism globalization. Following the theme Impact of Globalization on World Tourism City Development, this year’s summit includes such activities as exhibition, business talks and investment promotion. By stimulating discussion on the opportunities and challenges of the tourism industry in the age of globalization, WTCF aims to build a more proactive and open cooperation platform, promote resource sharing and coordinated development of world tourism cities, and achieve inclusive, balanced and win-win tourism development in the world.

Los Angeles is a world-famous tourism city and one of the founding members of WTCF. Its image of a diverse and inclusive international city is highly compatible with the theme of the summit. I am confident that our meeting here in Los Angeles will bring about more fruitful outcomes in the globalization of the tourism industry. WTCF is willing to work with tourism cities from all countries and the international tourism community to ride on the trend of globalization and promote sustained and sound development of the global tourism industry.

To conclude, I wish the Los Angeles Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit a full success. Wish all our guests and friends a prosperous career and good health. Thank you.