On the morning of September 1, the 2022 World Conference on Tourism Cooperation and Development was held at the China National Convention Center. Chen Jining, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee, Mayor of Beijing, and Chairman of the Council of World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF), delivered a keynote address at the opening ceremony.

Chen Jining expressed that since last year Beijing has deeply tapped into its culture and tourism resources, adopted measures to ease the difficulties of tourism and other industries and help them to recover and grow. Currently, tourism is faced with profound restructuring of the industry and its development dynamics. We must shore up confidence and find new ways to the recovery of the global tourism market and the sustainable development of tourism cities.

Chen suggested that embracing the new trends, the industry shall focus on the demand of tourists, launch new products, upgrade business forms, and provide tourists with more quality services. The industry shall be empowered by science and technology, adopting digital means to combine virtuality and reality, developing new models for cross-sector integration, and promoting the growth of new business forms such as tourism with cultural experience and virtual tourism.

Multilateral service cooperation platforms for world tourism shall be built to enhance the sharing of resources, deepen cooperation on developing selected tourism routes, rebuild the images of tourism cities, and make high-quality tourism services more available.

He hoped that member cities and participating guests could have in-depth exchanges to create opportunities through cooperation and tackle difficulties through innovation, thus contributing to the revitalization and development of the world tourism industry.

Zorista Urosevic, Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization, 按and mayors of tourism cities delivered speeches via video link. Sohail Khan, Deputy Secretary-General of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and Rao Quan, Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism of China, delivered speeches at the opening ceremony. Themed "Deepening Cooperation and Innovation for Development", this year's conference was held during the 2022 CIFTIS. It consists of four parts: opening ceremony, special forum, keynote speeches, and panel discussion. The conference aims to build a world tourism exchange platform, forge consensus, deepen cooperation, and seek for new driving forces for the recovery and development of tourism in the post-pandemic era.

Dai Binbin, Secretary-General of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality, attended the conference.

(Written by Yang Qi)