Chen Honghui, Vice Mayor of Wuhan: Tourism Recovery and Revitalization would be Boosted by Seizing Opportunities and Improving Services

Chen Honghui, Vice Mayor of Wuhan, is giving a speech at the opening ceremony

The World Conference on Tourism Cooperation and Development held by World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) kicked off in China National Convention Center on September 5th. With the theme of "Rebuilding World Tourism for Prosperity", the conference consists of 6 parts, including an opening ceremony, keynote speeches, the release of research results, themed forums, the Tourism Investment and Financing Conference and the special online program "Insight of Professionals". Chen Honghui, Vice Mayor of Wuhan, gave a speech at the opening ceremony as the representative of WTCF's member cities. He mentioned that Wuhan has seized firmly on to the opportunity offered by the central government. Wuhan is currently at the stage of accelerating its recovery and quality development after the pandemic, while aiming to build a national central city and an international metropolis. "I'd like to invite tourists both from home and abroad to visit Wuhan on behalf of the 14 million hospitable residents in the city. Welcome to the city of heroes."

Wuhan is the central city in central China. With abundant resources of mountains and waters and rich cultural heritages, it is an excellent Chinese tourism city, Chinese demonstration city of tourism and leisure, Chinese demonstration city of standardized tourism and one of top ten cities of night-time economy in China. Influenced by COVID-19, the tourism industry of the city in the early 2020 paused and became dormant. Chen Honghui said Wuhan has done everything possible to lift tourism companies out of dilemma, while boosting tourism recovery and revitalization under the guidance and support of Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China. The city's tourism economy took a triple jump from "start" to "warming-up", and finally to "prosperity".

Wuhan launched an event "Traveling around Hubei for Free, Visiting Wuhan for Sightseeing" on August 8th. Twenty-three A-level tourist attractions in Wuhan will be opened to Chinese tourists free of charge from August to December this year. Tourists shall make appointments in advance for admission. Over the past month, the average number of visitors per day received by tourist attractions in Wuhan has increased by 34% comparing to the same period in the previous year. The overall occupancy rate of star hotels has risen by 13% comparing to the same period last year. Tourists from other provinces and cities has accounted for 44.9% of the total number of visitors. These improvements have greatly boosted the recovery and development of relevant industries. According to data from Trip.com in July and August, the number of people booked Wuhan's hotels has increased by 36% month on month, and hotel revenues have risen by 40% month on month; the number of people who booked plane tickets to Wuhan has increased by 29% month on month, and tickets revenue has risen by 30% month on month. On August 18th, a night electronic music festival kicked off in Wuhan Maya Beach Water Park. Videos of the event went viral on the Internet and made its way to Twitter's trending searches. People around the world witnessed the coming back of Wuhan.

The tourism recovery in Wuhan is consistent with the theme "Rebuilding World Tourism for Prosperity". Wuhan has set an example for world tourism recovery and development in the context of the pandemic. As introduced by Chen Honghui, Wuhan is a city that could be dated back 3,500 years ago, and possesses 2 intersecting rivers and 3 towns. Dotted with 166 lakes and 446 mountains, the city has numerous popular attractions, including Yellow Crane Tower, Heptachord Terrace, Guiyuan Temple, Tan Hualin, Hankow Customs, East Lake and Zhiyin Cruise Ship. There are 5 types of routes at the tourists' choice, such as Lucid River Route, Eco-Friendly Route, Red Education Route, Cultural Route and Night-Time Leisure Route. "I'd like to express great thanks to WTCF for inviting Wuhan to represent member cities and give a speech. Residents in Wuhan are grateful to all Chinese people. We are trying our best at the moment to reserve the popular tourist spots for out-of-town tourists on weekends and holidays, so that more visitors could enjoy the beautiful sceneries and rich culture in Wuhan."