【Record】Chen Dong, Secretary-General of the WTCF and Director-General of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism releases Action Guide on Recovery and Revitalization of City Tourism amid COVID-19

Chen Dong, Secretary-General of the WTCF and Director-General of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, released Action Guide on Recovery and Revitalization of City Tourism amid COVID-19

Chen Dong: Since the beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has been raging around the world and humanity is facing a major crisis. Tourism is an important part of the world economy and one of the industries most affected by the pandemic. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the number of international tourists worldwide will be about 80 percent lower than last year in 2020, with more than $1 trillion tourism revenues lost.

At present, the COVID-19 pandemic is still in a period of spreading. Before the vaccine research and development sees a substantive breakthrough, the situation of global pandemic prevention & control is still in great uncertainty. Tourism is an important embodiment of modern civilization. Without extensive exchanges and personnel mobility, social development will lose its vitality. Against the backdrop of the ongoing spread of COVID-19, how to coordinate pandemic prevention & control with the resumption of tourism requires governments, tourism cities, tourism enterprises and international organizations to pool their wisdom, form a consensus, and work together.

On September 5, 2020, the WTCF hosted World Conference on Tourism Cooperation and Development. Action Guide on Recovery and Revitalization of City Tourism amid COVID-19 was formulated and published on the basis of an in-depth consensus. It points out that we shall adhere to the principle of giving priority to life, proceed with prevention & control and resumption, accelerate the establishment of operational mechanisms suitable for pandemic prevention & control, and orderly drive the recovery and development of urban tourism under the influence of the pandemic.

1. Comprehensively carrying out pandemic prevention & control work in tourism cities.

As the core carrier of world tourism, tourism cities play an irreplaceable role in the pandemic prevention & control. No security, no tourism. Tourism cities shall always protect the lives and health of the general public and tourists, make full use of infrastructure and public service platforms, grasp the key of pandemic prevention & control, adopt strict screening and disease control measures, establish a rapid emergency rescue system, and actively cooperate with governments to do a good and comprehensive job of pandemic prevention & control, so as to play a bigger role in the economic recovery and the revival of the tourism cities.

2. Launching urban tourism activities in a planned and orderly manner.

Tourism cities should adhere to the concept of safe, healthy, orderly and people-oriented development, adapt to the new situation in which COVID-19 may exist for a long time, flexibly balance pandemic prevention & control with tourism recovery, formulate practical action plans for tourism recovery, and promote the comprehensive recovery of urban tourism in an orderly manner. Countries and cities with effective basic pandemic prevention & control may adopt a system of travel reservation based on different levels, regions and routes, take the lead in launching domestic and regional tourism, and actively promote outdoor low-density tourism. International tourism cities can adopt point-to-point and line-to-line approaches to create conditions for the normalization of air transport between major tourism cities and drive the gradual recovery of tourism-related industries such as accommodation, catering and entertainment.

3. Promoting the implementation of more active and effective incentive policies.

Governments around the world shall adopt tax relief, financial subsidies, and other rescue policies to help tourism enterprises pull through the difficulties and maintain the basic integrity of the tourism industry and service system to the greatest extent. Tourism cities shall set up special funds for tourism recovery and development to support tourism enterprises in expanding the international tourism market. Targeted promotion of tourism cities is needed, so as to enhance the destination brand value of tourism cities and help the market restore confidence as soon as possible. Tourism enterprises should strengthen industry integration, establish risk-sharing mechanism, and improve the ability to cope with various crises.

4. Promoting international cooperation in pandemic prevention & control and tourism recovery.

In the face of the common enemy of COVID-19, mankind is a community of common destiny, sharing weal and woe. We shall strengthen international cooperation in an all-round way and hold an international conference on tourism development at an appropriate time in light of the global pandemic prevention & control, so as to jointly study and assess the huge impact of COVID-19 on global tourism development and actively promote the tourism globalization. Tourism cities should study and formulate mutually agreed tourism risk assessment standards, and carry out an objective and fair assessment of urban tourism risk levels. We shall implement a convenient and efficient retrieval system for personal health and safety information, to constantly improve the management efficiency of entry and exit points in tourism cities, and realize fast customs clearance based on qualification certification. We shall promote pilot programs to optimize the policy of two-way visas between countries, and introduce more convenient and easily implemented border detection measures.

5. Strengthening the information service platform for pandemic prevention & control.

Tourism cities should actively cooperate with governments of all countries to establish a mechanism for rapid collection, screening and feedback of pandemic prevention & control information, and form a risk control mechanism from point to surface and from individual to whole, so as to provide information support for global pandemic prevention & control. Bilateral or multilateral information exchange and docking mechanisms should be established between tourism cities and tourism enterprises to timely share information on pandemic prevention & control and tourism safety in tourist destinations. We shall give full play to the role of social media in the dissemination of transparent, accurate and authoritative tourism information in a rapid and effective manner, and encourage the public and tourists to cooperate with governments in pandemic prevention & control.

6. Strengthening the construction of emergency rescue system in tourism cities.

Tourism cities should attach great importance to the construction of tourism emergency rescue service system, and build the rapid response mechanisms to deal with all kinds of crises. The main transport hubs and transportation and tourism enterprises should be equipped with the pandemic prevention & control professionals. They shall strengthen the training of rescue skills for tourism practitioners of public health emergency, improve the emergency rescue capabilities of the tourism practitioners, build public service platforms for regional emergency rescue and material reserves, and bring pandemic prevention & control into the emergency rescue disaster preparedness mechanism. We shall greatly increase the pandemic prevention & control ability and the reserve level of pandemic prevention materials in the cruise ships and other closed tourism space.

7. Promoting the innovation of city tourism models under the impact of the pandemic.

We shall grasp the trend of tourism development during and after the pandemic, actively promote the travel pattern with the characteristics of unconventional diversification, personalization, customization, and appointment, boost product innovation, business innovation, model innovation and management innovation in city tourism, avoid excessive tourism, and promote the intelligent, facilitated and quality development of world tourism. We shall make full use of the Internet, big data, intelligence and other modern scientific and technological means to promote smart tourism and smart cities, and comprehensively improve the service, marketing and management of tourism cities. We shall actively promote the development of the international tourism insurance system and improve the security of international tourism. We shall encourage the shared economy and effectively improve infrastructure and public services in tourism cities.

8. Advocating greener and healthier ways of traveling.

The global spread of COVID-19 has exposed huge risks in global safety and health management. The tourism industry and tourists should pay more attention to themselves and public safety, formulate travel codes of conduct that meet the requirements of pandemic prevention & control, and actively advocate more civilized and healthier travel methods. Tourism enterprises should strengthen self-discipline in market competition, energy conservation and environmental protection, emergencies, pandemic prevention & control, food safety and other aspects, and jointly build a symbiotic tourism ecological system covering industries, regions and even the world, so as to comprehensively promote the green and sustainable development of world tourism.

Tourism is a comprehensive industry with strong resilience. Although the pandemic has brought huge losses to world tourism, the basic functions, market demands and service system of world tourism still remain unchanged on a global scale. The WTCF is full of confidence in the rapid recovery of global tourism after the pandemic. It is hoped that tourism cities and tourism companies will accurately grasp the changing trend of the global pandemic, adhere to the dual drive of pandemic prevention and tourism resumption, actively promote the building of a community with a shared future for human health, jointly resist the huge impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global tourism, and together usher in an era for world tourism recovery and revitalization.

Thank you.