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Improve Influence of China over World Tourism Industry With a Sound Platform of Cooperation for World Tourist Cities


Yan Han Founded on September 19, 2012 in Beijing, World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) is a non-profit, non-governmental international mass organization. The establishment of WTCF was proposed by Beijing and organized voluntarily by tourist cities of all countries and regions, non-governmental organizations, associations and enterprises related to tourism. Under the theme of "Tourism Makes City Life Better", WTCF was the world’s first tourism organization whose members were mainly composed of cities and the first international tourism organization whose headquarters was located in Beijing. I. Bring to full play the role of tourism in promoting exchanges and mutual learning among cultures and civilizations, and enhancing the harmony among civilizations Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China held in 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping has pointed out for many times the important role of tourism in advancing world peace and development and in promoting the development of public diplomacy. On March 22, 2013, President Xi Jinping pointed out in his speech at the Ceremony of Chinese Year of Tourism in Russia that “Tourism is the major avenue for promoting civilization, culture and friendship. It’s also instrumental in improving the people’s life quality and living standard. Travelling abroad has been the beautiful wishes of all people.” On May 15, 2014, President Xi Jinping attended and addressed the China International Friendship Conference in Commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. Xi pointed out that friendship and affectionate feelings among ordinary people were the fundamental forces driving world peace and development as well as the prerequisite for win-win cooperation. People-to-people diplomacy should adhere to the principle of exploration and innovation and carry out foreign exchange in various fields, at various levels and through various channels. WTCF was the world’s first global tourism organization based in China. The founding of WTCF provided countries, tourism cities and enterprises with a platform of dialogue and cooperation at all levels. Cities were the destinations of all tourism activities. The establishment of WTCF marked the commencement of cooperation and connection between world tourism destinations and promoted the common development of tourist cities and organizations. The Beijing Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit is an annual summit organized by WTCF. Major events of the summit include thematic meetings, council meetings, trade fair and forums, tourism cities expo and exhibitions. In 2013, Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Yang attended the opening ceremony of Beijing Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit and addressed the summit. In his speech, Wang Yang introduced the related policies and ideas of Chinese government on the development of tourism industry, which raise the attention of people attending the meeting and media. In the 2014 Beijing Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit, Bi Jingquan, Deputy Secretary-general of Chinese State Council, presented the written speech of Vice-Premier Wang Yang. In his written speech, Wang Yang elaborated the importance attached by Chinese government to the development of tourism industry as well as the support of Chinese government to the work of WTCF. Mr. Tegegnework Gettu, Under-secretary-general of the United Nations, Zhu Shanzhong, Executive-director of World Tourism Organization, Scott Supernaw, Chairman of the Pacific Asia Travel Association and representatives of other international tourism organizations attended and addressed the Summit. In their speeches, they thought highly of the contribution of WTCF in promoting the development of world tourism industry and expressed their wish to further strengthen win-win cooperation. Tourism is one of the major components of the strategy of opening to the outside world and an important part of people-to-people diplomacy. The rapid development of international tourism helps to promote Chinese culture to the outside world and improve the cultural soft power and international influence of China, thus building bridges of friendship, promoting world peace and development, and pushing forward human civilization. The development of international tourism can also contribute to the transformation of development mode of economy, the improvement of development quality, thus entrenching the guiding role of Beijing in world tourism industry. With its headquarters located in Beijing, the capital of China, WTCF is in a position to extend tourism cooperation to broader domains, promote coordinated development and resource sharing between domestic and international tourism industry, thus realizing the transformation from a big tourism country to a strong one. Ⅱ. Making the most of the attraction of Chinese outbound tourism market to the outside world and actively take part in the rule making of international tourism industry In recent years, the scale of the outbound tourism market of China witnessed a sustained and rapid growth. In 2013, the scale of the Chinese outbound tourism market reached 9.819 million person*times, up by 18.0%, and the consumption of Chinese outbound tourism reached 128.7 billion USD, up by 26.8%. One of the major reasons why WTCF attracted the attention and active participation of many international tourism cities was the huge potential of Chinese tourism market. Currently, 140 foreign destination countries and regions have opened tourism access to Chinese citizens and 110 foreign tourism destinations are in the process of opening access to Chinese citizens. In recent years, with more and more countries taking measures to simplify visa procedures for Chinese tourists, more and more Chinese tourist chose to travel abroad. We should also take note that with the sustained growth of outbound tourism market of China, China is also facing an ever expanding deficit in terms of service trade. Therefore, in its exchange and contact with international members, WTCF has been emphasizing win-win cooperation and sticking to improve its discourse power with its developing market share, and adopt?universally?accepted international?standards. On the inaugural meeting of WTCF in 2012, based on the consensus on the development of world tourism industry under new historical circumstances, all the members of WTCF signed the Beijing Declaration. The Evaluation System of World Tourism Cities and Comprehensive Evaluation Index System for Tourism Industry published by WTCF offered theoretical framework for enhancing the socio-economic development of world tourism cities. In 2013, in an effort to promote member cities to integrate elements of inclusiveness, sharing, ecology and innovation into their service, and eliminate inconvenience and obstacles hindering cooperation and exchange, WTCF issued Beijing Consensus—Tourism Service Guide Framework for World Tourism Cities, winning wide recognition from member cities. In order to help member cities and institutions in grasping the consumption desires and features of the rapid-growing Chinese outbound tourists, and improving the quality of service, WTCF issued Survey on Outbound Tourism Consumption Market of Chinese Citizens during the 2014 Beijing Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit. The Survey focus on the whole process of outbound tourism consumption choice and experience of Chinese citizens, emphasize on the guidance to tourism cities in offering targeted service, and pay attention to heated issues and topics of tourism consumption of Chinese tourists. By helping member cities and institutions build a more thorough and comprehensive understanding on the features and development trends of Chinese outbound tourism market, as well as helping foreign member cities in improving tourism service quality and conducting targeted promotion activities, the Survey contributed to offer more references and reach more consensuses in the process of building a market-oriented and highly interactive bridge of cooperation. Participants attending the summit think highly of the research results of WTCF. Many participants argue that the Survey made a thorough analysis on Chinese outbound tourism market and is helpful for international tourism cities to improve their ability in attracting and serving Chinese tourists. During the 2014 Beijing Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit, for the purpose of promoting Chinese inbound tourism market, WTCF organized a tourism trade fair. The fair specially invited 43 international renowned inbound tourism purchasers for purchase negotiation. More than 200 institutions, mainly composed of cities, scenic spots, hotels, travel agencies, airports, airlines, cruise ship companies and OTAs, took part in the fair, which made the fair a cooperation platform of connecting different sectors and domains. With the aid of online reservation matching system, the fair helped 1432 couples of sellers and purchasers on international tourism to conduct face-to-face negotiation. Ⅲ. Strive to produce a well organized brand of global tourism industry by enlarging influence and improving service quality From 2012 to 2014, members of WTCF have increased from 58 to 135. These members came from 43 countries and regions of five continents, and covered a variety of sectors, such as airline business, tourism, media, financial industry, insurance and training industry. WTCF set up an expert committee as well as three branches, namely the civil aviation branch, branch of tourism related enterprises, and the media branch, which enabled WTCF to realize the effective integration of all elements of tourism. The new media platform jointly established by WTCF and China Daily has currently boasted a variety of communication channels, such as official websites, e-mail client, WeChat, micro blog, magazine and advisory hotline. In the future, the platform is expected to develop into an all-media service platform integrating information service, business service and market promotion. During the 2014 Beijing Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit, five members, namely Los Angeles (United States), Fez and Rabat (Morocco), Riga (Latvia), Rome (Italy) and Washington City (United States), applied to host the 2015 Tourism Summit. Representatives of these cities, including Director of National Tourism Administration of Morocco, Mayor of Washington City, made bidding presentation. After the on-site voting of all council members, it was decided that the 2015 Tourism Summit will be co-hosted by Fez and Rabat. After three years’ development, the Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit will for the first time be hosted outside China. “We value the reputation and influence of WTCF and will continue to bid for hosting the Summit of 2016”, said Vincent Gray, Mayor of the Washington City, feeling it a pity to lose the hosting status of the 2015 Summit. A number of cities, from both China and the rest of the world, such as Buenos Aires, Cairo, Busan, Tianjin, Chongqing and Guangzhou, also expressed their wish to host the 2016 Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit. Other Chinese cities, such as Yangzhou, Jiaozuo and Aletai, wish to host other lower-level activities of the Secretariat of WTCF, like forums and meetings, thus promoting local economic and social development. Member organizations think highly of the job done by WTCF. “WTCF offered an excellent platform for all parties. With the aid of WTCF, we not only got to have a better understanding on Beijing, but also established contact and exchange mechanisms with many outstanding tourism cities, thus will eventually benefit tourists all over the world”, said Murray, Mayor of Dublin. “WTCF is a first class international organization and it’s a pleasure for Milano to become one of its members, said Alfonso, Deputy Mayor of Milano. Over the past three consecutive years, domestic and foreign media attached great importance to the Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit. Over 20 top national media of China, including Xinhua News Agency, People’s Daily, CCTV, China Daily, China News Service and China Tourism News made coverage of the Summit and put aside special broadcast time or space for the Summit. Foreign media such as Associated Press, The Washington Post, The Mirror, BBC, and La Agencia EFE, S.A. as well as cyber media such as Sina, Tencent, Sohu also made coverage of the Summit. As a newly founded organization, WTCF shall learn from and exchange with its members. Adhering to the philosophy of “better city life through tourism”, we will focus on the universal demands of different countries, cultures and peoples, and publicize the national image of China in an all-round and in-depth way by displaying the cultural strength and development charm of China. Meanwhile, we will strive hand in hand with other international organizations to improve the well-being of human society by focusing on issues such as ecological development, cultural diversity protection and poverty reduction. (Yan Han, Council Member of the Chinese Association for International Understanding, Deputy Secretary-general of WTCF) 　 (Translated by Ma Jiatai)