GTEF to discuss tourism problems , UNWTO – China to strengthen cooperation

Travel BizNews —

The tenth edition of the Global Tourism Economic Forum (GTEF) will be held in Macau in September of this year.

The Forum will provide a platform for governments, business leaders, experts, and academics to advance shared plans for the sustainable development of tourism .

Meanwhile, the World Tourism Organization ( UNWTO ) highly evaluated the re-opening of China as ‘the final piece in tourism’s recovery’ from the biggest crisis in the sector’s history.

According to UNWTO data, the pandemic cost destinations worldwide a combined US$270 billion in Chinese outbound tourist spending in 2020 and 2021 alone.

China grew to be the biggest tourism source market in the world prior to the pandemic. In 2019, Chinese tourists spent a collective US$255 billion on international travel, while domestic tourism served as a pillar of growth and employment, with more than 6 billion trips that year alone, supporting jobs and businesses across the country.

Leading a high-level delegation to the city of Hangzhou to join in the official re-opening recently , UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili, welcomed the lifting of travel restrictions as a major boost to economic growth and social opportunity both in Asia and the Pacific and globally.

China’s Minister of Culture and Tourism Hu Heping welcomed UNWTO’s support throughout the pandemic and for joining the official re-opening celebrations.

In a bilateral meeting, Minister Hu Heping and Secretary-General Pololikashvili agreed to further deepen their collaboration around positioning tourism on the agenda for international development cooperation and in the key areas of tourism education and tourism for rural development.

Similarly ,  the high-level delegation was welcomed to Yucun, one of four Chinese destinations to be recognized among the ‘Best Tourism Villages by UNWTO’. The village was awarded the recognition for its commitment to making tourism a source of local opportunity, in addition to its commitment to eco-friendly tourism and pioneering approach to waste management at the destination-level.

Likewise, UNWTO was welcomed as a partner of the Xianghu Dialogue, organized by the World Tourism Alliance (WTA) in the city of Hangzhou. Held around the theme of “A New Paradigm for a New Tourism”, the event brought together public and private sector leaders to re-think the sector’s future around the key priorities of sustainability, equality and resilience.

In the past year, China has established itself as a leading supporter of UNWTO in several core priority areas. These include Nature Positive Tourism, which UNWTO placed on the agenda of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15), for which China served as President, according to UNWTO.

 March 2023

Photo : UNWTO and Chinese officials in Yucun of China ( UNWTO )