【Record】Release of Research Results

Publish Time:2020-10-27 16:15:55

【Introduction】:Time: 09:40-10:20, 5th, September; Moderator: Li Baochun, Executive Deputy Secretary-General of World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF).

Time: 09:40-10:20, 5th, September

Moderator: Li Baochun, Executive Deputy Secretary-General of World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF)

Li Baochun, Executive Deputy Secretary-General of WTCF, presided over the release of research results

Moderator: Next, we’re going to launch the research results of the WTCF.

Distinguished Guests, ladies and gentlemen,

To help tourism cities respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in an orderly manner and promote the full recovery of global tourism under the influence of the pandemic, today, the WTCF will release two new results, Action Guide on Recovery and Revitalization of City Tourism amid COVID-19, and Report on Recovery and Development of World Tourism amid COVID-19.

Action Guide on Recovery and Revitalization of City Tourism amid COVID-19 is a consensus developed by the Federation based on extensive consultation with member organizations and relevant industry insiders. Now, please welcome Chen Dong, secretary-general of WTCF and director-general of Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, to release 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.

Moderator: Thank you, Secretary-General Chen Dong.

In order to overcome the impact of the pandemic and develop the global tourism industry, WTCF provides the industry with experience and case studies on tourism recovery and development from three dimensions: country, city and industry. Next, I would like to invite Ms. Du Yili, an expert of WTCF, to release Report on Recovery and Development of World Tourism amid COVID-19.

Ms. Du Yili, an expert of WTCF, released the Report on Recovery and Development of World Tourism amid COVID-19

Du Yili: On behalf of the specialist team of WTCF, I am here to publish the Report on Recovery and Development of World Tourism amid COVID-19.

The first part is about the background. All the background research is to say that the world tourism industry is facing an unprecedented crisis under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In such an unprecedented crisis, the WTCF, as the world's first global international tourism organization with cities as the main body, needs to respond to the needs of its members and cooperate with member cities to overcome the difficulties. The WTCF, in collaboration with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the University of North Texas, prepared a report on tourism recovery and development under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The research team selected six cities from six countries as the case cities: Barcelona in Spain, Beijing in China, Buenos Aires in Argentina, Casablanca in Morocco, Los Angeles in the United States, and Samarkand in Uzbekistan. We also chose four member organizations: Trip, Disney, Marriott Hotel and Air China. Through these case cities, the tourism strategies and practices in the context of COVID-19 are analyzed. We hope these analyses could provide the member cities with some valuable and common strategies and suggestions, and bring some light to the world tourism which is now in difficulty.

The main body of the report could be divided into three levels: nation, city and industry. Each level is divided into two stages: the first stage is the crisis response and the second is the industry recovery.

Let's start at the national level. National response is the prerequisite and basis for the recovery and revival of the tourism industry. All countries have generally taken active intervention measures, among which two decisions have a decisive impact on the tourism industry: 1. Helping the industry to maintain its operation through emergency and distress-relief measures. 2. Balancing economic recovery and pandemic prevention & control measures. As for the active intervention measures, many of them are universal measures and stimulus packages. Tourism enterprises and the tourism industry have been greatly helped by them, such as the $2 trillion economic stimulus package of US, China's tax cuts and exemptions, and a variety of comprehensive measures. Our airlines, airports, travel agencies and restaurants have less pressure have received some help. At the same time, countries have plenty of flexibility of their own, such as Argentina, which has set up an emergency aid program to help travel companies pay their employees. China has refunded quality deposits for travel agencies. Spain has cut taxes for airlines. Governments around the world are struggling to cope with the disaster. But when it comes to balancing economic development with pandemic prevention & control, it's safe to say that all countries are facing an unprecedented test. All countries are also trying to strike a balance, such as the United States, where cases spiked after the economy restarted in May and then the government postponed the restart plan. Singapore has already relaxed controls but then it had to reimpose restrictions due to the second wave of the pandemic. China reopened in May, but imposed local restrictions on traffic and movement because of the outbreak in Beijing and other places in June. It is in this back-and-forth process that governments recognize that they need to be more prepared to lift travel restrictions and meet the challenges of restarting tourism. The delay in the restart may increase the loss of the tourism industry, but haste makes waste. If restart is carried out too quickly, it will have some profound impact on the long-term development of tourism and the economy.

In the second stage of industrial recovery, most countries have adopted four-aspect measures, which also have some commonalities. The first one is about recovery plan, for example, the recovery of each country is gradual and differentiated. The outbreak is uncertain, so the tourism recovery must also be a gradual process, and the restart must be time-specific, regional, and differentiated. All of our case countries act in stages. Some of the countries, like Argentina, Morocco, the United States, and China have some sectors of the economy restarted in the first phase, such as the restaurant industry in the United States, and other travel activities restarted later. The recovery of tourism in China is divided into different regions and periods. Intra-regional tourism was opened in May and inter-provincial tourism in mid-July. International tourism is still recovering and waiting. Based on this trend, the research team made a suggestion that the recovery of tourism industry after the outbreak is regular, which should be from restaurants to hotels and then to aviation. Therefore, it is suggested that governments should consider this trend and give targeted support to different industries.

The second aspect is to ensure travel safety. This report recommends that while formulating the new security standards and procedures, governments shall conduct more cooperation with the private sector, companies, and DMO (Destination Management Organizations). It also suggests that DMO and tourism industry associations shall actively construct a new security mechanism and establish the new security trust, so the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) launched a new global agreement about world travel security. The National Tour Association of America has issued technical guidelines for travel under the new normal. Argentina, Morocco, Spain and other countries all have issued many new tourism security agreements. Spain has issued 17 guidelines and applied the mechanisms they have used to improve tourism quality for more than 20 years to safety measures. By issuing safe travel certificates, Spain ensures that all processes can be implemented.

The third aspect is that all countries are actively stimulating the demand for travel. Various cities are doing a lot of work, such as "100 Reasons to Travel to Finland" and Morocco's "Goodbye Morocco Initiative". In particular, in terms of international travel, many countries with similar pandemic management systems are trying to restart the international tourism in this point-to-point way by opening the travel "corridor" or "Travel Bubble" (OECD, 2020).

The fourth aspect is about the reform of tourism industry. Reflecting on the reform of tourism industry, the research group summarizes a lot of experience, in which three conclusions must be said. 1. Far-sighted governments at all levels are taking this opportunity to address the long-term structural problems of tourism, such as overcrowding and environmental disruption. 2. Promoting tourism innovation. All countries hope that when tourism recovers, it will not be a simple recovery, but progress and improvement, so they encourage new business models, digitalization, interconnection, and encourage middle and small-sized enterprises to innovate. 3. We all hope for and pay special attention to the stability of international exchanges and contacts. From personal experience, one can realize that without social interaction, without safety and health, without personal safety, there will be no tourism. Therefore, we hope to strengthen international tourism cooperation, enhance regional tourism exchanges, stimulate tourism consumption and promote tourism reform. Tourism is an important force to promote national economic recovery and also to oppose anti-globalization.

The second level is the city. As mentioned before, cities are the nodes and the key to the tourism industry's response and recovery. Cities have done three things in responding to the COVID-19 crisis. One of the most important problems, which is also the one that gives maximum pressure to the city, is unemployment. For tourism cities, tourism truly accounts for much of the GDP (18% for Barcelona, 15% for Casablanca, 11.5% for Beijing, and 5% for Los Angeles). It’s exactly because of the high proportion of our tourism industry that the pressure of unemployment and layoff is more serious. Therefore, city authorities and DMO actively coordinate various policies and look for opportunities to help tourism enterprises out of the crisis. For example, they coordinate the reception capacity of enterprises to meet the medical needs and relieve the pressure of enterprises. At the same time, in an interview of the research group, city professional departments agree that to cope with such a major crisis and disaster, we must rely on the government, rely on society, and rely on the inter-departmental cooperation. Like the establishment of Economic Coordination Response Center of Barcelona and eight special working groups of Beijing. In these collaboration mechanisms, DMO shall, 1) speak on behalf of the tourism enterprises, 2) coordinate all kinds of resources, 3) win support from the government, and 4) unite the industry for joint self-help.

In the second stage of industry recovery, the city has also done work in four aspects. In the meantime, we believe that there are many measures which are the easiest to implement at the city level, like technological innovation and consumption stimulation. The report shows that the fiscal policies to support case cities have been very specific in stimulating consumption. Los Angeles, for example, gives direct subsidies to consumers, while Barcelona and Casablanca give subsidies to enterprises according to their size and employment scale. Beijing gives restaurants and hotels a direct subsidy of 30 percent of the amount spent, which goes directly to suppliers' accounts.

The third level is our tourism industry. Ultimately, enterprises are the driving force and engine of economic recovery. This time, in response to the crisis and industrial recovery, the tourism industry has been tested, including major tourism enterprises and enterprises from all over the world. We will not describe the five aspects of the response to the crisis in detail. I would like to say in three sentences what we have found about the tourism business.

First of all, sharing the loss with the tourists. When a large number of refunds swept in, many of our enterprises unprecedentedly adjusted their own sales policy and provided free refund services for tourists. Trip, Marriott and a lot of other companies are all doing this.

Second, working with employees to pull them through. In Alaska Airlines, Marriott International and Trip, their management voluntarily cut their salaries or voluntarily waived them, sharing the burden of hardship.

Third, shouldering social responsibilities, especially in the hotel industry. Marriott has provided US $10 million worth of hotel rooms to contribute to the fight against the pandemic. The hotel industry in Madrid provided 9,000 beds, Carnival used their cruise ships as temporary hospitals, and Trip provided millions of medical masks for various countries. These show the resilience and responsibility of tourism enterprises, which increased the confidence of our tourism professionals and established a positive image for the tourism industry.

Now we are entering the second phase in which the pandemic and the market restart go hand in hand. In this phase, we have only one industry-wide goal: to rebuild the market. The research group observed that many aspects of the market reconstruction initiative have begun to improve and progress. For example, in the recovery program, and in the restart program, all enterprises shall firmly grasp the changes in the travel mode and behavior after the pandemic, adjust their products, prices and operation mode. Second, we shall promote substantial progress in the operation mode and comprehensive innovation.

The examples given in the report can be summarized by five sentences.

1. Based on mobile terminals, our payment system and operation system are more convenient and much better.

2. Self-service terminals, robots and intelligent terminals operate normally in the service scene.

3. Seamless connection of online and offline tourism services can speed up the connection.

4. Three-dimensional media provide tourists with more choices.

5. Tourism big data provides reference for governments at all levels to enhance their service capacity.

The third measure is to improve the safety standards. After the pandemic, all safety standards are enhanced, and these enhanced safety measures may be retained and become the routine, so as to offer safer and more comfortable tourism.

The fourth sentence. Among these various changes, there is only one constant. The case enterprises have a common understanding that their pursuit is unchanged. They argue that it is the pursuit of tourism companies to provide more added value to the restarted tourism market, and recognize that the more uncertain the economy, the more consumers need to pursue certain value. As a result, all enterprises hope and believe that, the top strategy for the market is to provide higher value to tourists.

The last one is unity. This time, the industry impresses us by helping the partners with the recovery. It is the time to huddle together for warmth. The leading role of large enterprises in this process is very critical and very important. Trip has provided billions of dollars to our SME partners for small loans and lease renewals to ensure that our business chain does not break down. Airbnb offered $250 million to share the damage with its tenants. Expedia has set aside $275 million to work with travel destinations and businesses upstream and downstream to help revive the market. At present, the global tourism industry gathers the power of large enterprises and tourist destinations and they jointly promote and revitalize our tourism market.

Finally, I'd like to conclude with two sentences.

First of all, tourism companies are able to overcome the pandemic and build a community of common market interests with their market partners. This is a sign that the tourism industry is growing mature in its fight against the pandemic.

Second, in the face of unprecedented difficulties, the world tourism industry should forge a consensus among countries, cities, destination governments, enterprises and tourists and establish a new tourism cooperation mechanism for sharing responsibilities and fruits. This is the sure path for the world tourism industry to make a comeback. This is the most important point of this report. Thank you very much!

Moderator: Thank you, Ms. Du Yili. This is the end of the release of research results. Now let's enter the theme forum. Let's welcome Dr. Tiger Wu, WTCF expert and professor of Peking University, to host the theme forum.

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