On October 13, 2018, the "Dialogue Among Famous Mountains in the World" was held at the Guiyang International Ecological Conference Center. As the highlight agenda of the 2018 International Mountain Tourism Alliance Annual Conference, about 200 people including representatives of alliance members, 15 representatives of famous mountain destination agencies at home and abroad, travel agents, OTAs, etc. participated in this "Dialogue Among Famous Mountains in the World", focusing on mountain ecological protection and rationality. Use, benefit the mountain people and sustainable tourism development, etc. to carry out promotion, dialogue and exchanges.
2018 Dialogue Among World Famous Mountains in the World
Host:Francisco Frangialli, Honorary Secretary General of UNWTO
Host: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen! Today, we want to carry out a “Dialogue among Famous Mountains in the World”. This year, we held the first session. I want to first invite IMTA Secretary General Mr. HE to give opening remarks here.
He Yafei: Thank you, Mr. Francisco Frangialli! Welcome to Guizhou. The purposes of the dialogue today are to build it into a brand for mountain tourism, and meanwhile to further deepen our dialogues with it as a platform and to deepen the exchanges between cultures and between different mountain tourism forms. Just as Mr. Dominique de Villepin said yesterday, we’re now looking forward to the future to seek for new modern tourism. What is called new modern tourism? In my opinion, with tourism as a basic industry, based on this, more opportunities will be created; new products, new services and new models will provided to all the participants, all tourists and entrepreneurs, travel agencies and so on in all aspects. Therefore, people can continuously enrich their life experience. Of course, today, we are here to make the dialogues among famous mountains in the world. Each mountain in the world has its own unique geologic and geographic features, unique culture and aborigines. In this aspect, we have many resources; we are gifted. I hope that exchanges and dialogues among famous mountains can be started through today’s in-depth dialogues. We will also have more opportunities to cooperate in the future and meanwhile continuously seek for new inspirations. We will also explore more development opportunities for the future and truly create a healthy, green and sustainable tourism.
Therefore, I want to express my most sincere congratulations to the first session of “Dialogue among Famous Mountains in the World”. This is our first session of “Dialogue among Famous Mountains in the World”. I believe this can’t absolutely be the last one and there will be more wonderful dialogues in the future. Thank you.
Host: Just as Secretary General shared to us just now, there are many aborigines in mountains; and they are also very diversified mainly because of different natural environments, cultures,elevations,geography forms and diversified climates. Besides, there will also be their different culture sources and traditions in different mountains. Meanwhile, they have some similarities. Although there are differences in geological forms, elevations and climates, many aborigines have lived for several centuries in mountains: some are on plains on the plateau , some are in the river valleys and some are from other places of the world. In Guizhou, there are many such examples. We can see that many minorities are living here and meanwhile remain the most original culture and tradition. All these are treasures of world culture; and it is necessary for us to further protect them.
We found that in the past one century, culture or urbanization has developed more and more rapidly, which is also a challenge for us. For aborigines in all mountains in the world, it is also very important to seek for or expand their income channels. We also need to share more experience in mountain tourism. This afternoon, there will be a dialogue and exchange among different famous mountains in the world.
This afternoon, we’ll hold a dialogue activity. We have 15 spokespersons. I hope everyone can be more active, be more interactive. I hope that the the spokespersons can have a seat on the stage; and there can be a link for dialogue and communication after they introduce mountains represented by them respectively.
Next, let’s welcome the first representative from a famous mountain, Didier Joseph, on behalf of Mount Blanc, the Alps to share with us. The second is Mr. Gede Budiasitawa on behalf of Volcano Batur; and the third is Li Yiyang on behalf of Changbai Mountain. Let’s welcome the three honored guests to come here on the stage.
First, let’s welcome three representatives from famous mountains to deliver a short speech one by one.
Mount Blanc
Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc Tourist Board General Manager，Didier Joseph
Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon! Today I will introduce the related conditions to everyone on behalf of the Alps and I want to share Mount Blanc to everyone .
This is the conditions of Mount Blanc in the winter. Mount Blanc is the highest summit in Western Europe and the altitude is as high as 4808m. This is scenery of Mount Blanc seen from my home. Located in Haute-Savoie，the west of France, Mount Blanc massif belongs to three countries, including France, Switzerland and Italy. The massif includes several summits above 4.000 m. Today I only talk about the part in France.
Mount Blanc Region is a very important tourism destination. It has a very long tourism history. Since the first hotel opened in the 17th century, there have been a large number of people to hope to start their activities about hiking and mountain climbing here. Since the first batch of tourists came here in the 17th century, we have experienced a rich development course. At the beginning of the 20th century, we set up some very important infrastructures and corresponding equipment surrounding Mount Blanc to help everyone to have better climbing and hiking experience. Soon afterwards, we also built such infrastructures as trains, trolleybuses, and cable cars in Chamonix Region. In the late 1990s, we started relevant activities including hiking and mountain-climbing vigorously. Of course, there is very hot Chamonix Skiing Region. Meanwhile, we established a national skiing school in France and some training institutions.In the Mont-Blanc Region, there are 10 skiing resortse, providing 211 skiing cable cars, a 5000km skiing slope, more than 700 skimeisters and more than 500 mountain-climbing guides. We can provide beds for over 200,000 tourists. Our foreign clients can occupy 40% of the whole, the revenues of all the skiing resorts in winter was very high in total; and there are 50% of operating posts being supplied in tourism, so tourism is a very crucial industry for us. In Mount Blanc Region, there are also a great many of sports-related activities both in winter and in summer, including skiing, snowboarding, hiking, paraglider and so on. Every year, there are 20,000 mountaineers trying the Mount Blanc ascent but only 55% of them can successfully reach the peak. Some people may think that climbing Mount Blanc is very simple; but they find it is indeed very difficult actually after they experience.
For our region, tourism is a pillar industry of very positive influence and much importance. Through such industry, we can perfectly remain the population in the region, develop our business and create more job opportunities.
Some tasks and challenges faced by us in the future are shown in the picture. For global warming, there’s less snow, melting glaciers and mountainous-area landslides, so we shall adopt various tourism ways and travel approaches to protect our natural scenic spots. Meanwhile, we are constantly protecting natural and cultural heritages so that we can develop better.
Batur Volcano
Batur UNESCO Global Geopark Tourism and Cultural Officer，GeoparkGede Budiasitawa
Ladies and gentlemen and all the distinguished honored guests, good afternoon! Today I’m very honored and proud to stand here to make a speech. First, I want to express my gratitude to International Mountain Tourism Alliance. Thank you for organizing such an important activity. I also want to express my gratitude to the sponsor of the meeting for specially inviting me. My name is Gede Budiasitawa on behalf of Batur UNESCO Global Geopark, a relatively small geopark from Bali Island, Indonesia.
Our full name is Batur UNESCO Global Geopark. We hope to integrate culture, beautiful scenery and people in harmonious coexistence. This is the certificate for Batur Geopark. In 2012, we were accepted as a member of Global Geopark Network. In 2015, we were officially renamed as Batur Global Geopark. Afterwards, we were renamed again as Batur UNESCO Global Geopark (BUGG).
This is a map of Indonesia. Bali Island is an island of Indonesia; and Batur is the region circled with a red line in the map. This is a photo of Batur Volcano. Here are 21 cultural heritage places; and we can basically see 21 cultural heritage places from this point. Batur UNESCO Global Geopark is also affirmed by UNESCO for intangible cultural heritage of our terrace irrigation. We joined in UN Geopark Network with the hope to carry out dialogues and communications between different geoparks.
There are local residents called Tri hita Karana in Batur Region. We hope to create harmonious coexistence between the three (between people and people, between people and gods and between people and nature) to protect the environment and meanwhile bring better development for tourism.
In this picture, we can see the universe on one side and the human body on the other side. Namely, everyone of us can protect our health and the universe. This is our belief.
This picture depicts our protection for local culture. The relationship between human beings, nature and culture should be three in one. Meanwhile, we will sacrifice the holy mountain regularly or carry out sacrifice activities for it.
This is also an intangible cultural heritage certificated by UNESCO; and this is the respect expressed by our local people to gods.
This is our geological protection activity; and there are some protection festivals. Meanwhile, we will publicize varieties of our rare animals and plants and corresponding knowledge. Therefore, we have activities of protecting both ecological environment and geological environment. This is our activity of ecological environmental protection, namely teaching students how to protect local ecological system and local ecological environment. This is an activity organized by the government. It will organize students to regularly go sightseeing in Mount Batur and carry out some publicity and education activities; and the government will also regularly monitor the local environment.
As for cultural protection, there are many ceremonies or activities of various types in Batur Region. I don’t know whether you have been to the place. This village is called Terunyan, which is different from other places on Bali Island. People in that place don’t bury or cremate people after they die but put their skeletons on the land. But their bodies won’t rot or stink just because of these trees. The trees will cover the smell of bodies.
This is a cultural exchange activity for Chinese people and Hinduism people on Bali Island; and this is an activity carried out in a temple of Batur. Besides, there are many cultural exchange activities of China and Bali Island in this region. This is our Lake Region in Batur. The legend goes that a Chinese princess got married with the first king on Bali Island.
The picture depicts the cooperation and activity of three parties, namely the government, local social community and schools. These pictures can show the relationship between us and local common people and the interactions and cultural exchanges between us and different foreign guests. Meanwhile, it also reflects our experience communications in ecological environment protection.
There are also training provided for students and local guides. These are cultural activities on lakeside and in mountain. We will monthly hold such culture activities in the local temples. These are projects for us to protect geological parks. We have a project between the geological park and schools. We will teach students in schools and invite them to visit geological parks.
This part is about sustainable economic development. We hope we can feed back local common people, especially provide help for their agriculture and breeding industry and give them more job opportunities.
This is a hiking activity in Mount Batur. There are camping areas and local hot springs. That’s all for today. Thank you for listening.
Changbai Mountain
Deputy Director of Jilin Changbai Mountain Administrative Committee Li Yiyang
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen! Thanks to the IMTA for providing me with such an platform to interact and communicate with friends from mountains all over the world. The title of my speech is " Paradise of Sports, Dreamland of Ice & Snow ".
My first header is confidence, what is the confidence? Because we have treasures, namely, the world-class resources and winter development opportunities.
With a world-class powder snow resource, the Changbai Mountain is one of the three largest powder snow bases in the world. Its slope, perpendicular throw, trail length and snow fall period make it qualified to undertake the Winter Olympics. Our snow fall period can continue until May of the next year, so the skiing is also available before May.
With world-class mineral water resource, Changbai Mountain, together with the Alps and the Caucasus Mountains are listed as the three largest lands rich in mineral springs. Meanwhile, Changbai Mountain has the world-class resources of hot springs that have particularly remarkable effects on skin diseases and rheumatoid diseases. Changbai Mountain also has the world-class ecological resources that are the best preserved intact forest ecological systems in the world. With abundant herb resources, 70% of the medicinal materials in Northern China are from Changbai Mountain, the famous Northern Medicine Base in China.
We have traffic and regional advantages. Changbai Mountain is not only located in the node of the important China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor on the Belt and Road but also in the global golden powder snow belt. Jilin Province is also situated in the important node of the channel for the Polar Silk Road. Therefore, the regional advantages are self-evident. We have opened the high-speed railway, the expressway and the international airport successively. The opening of the high-speed railway has brought tens of millions of visitors to the Changbai Mountain. Before Beijing Olympic Winter Games in 2020, the high-speed railway to Beijing will be opened. At that time, it will take 4 hours and 30 minutes from Beijing to Changbai Mountain; and 10 million visitors will come to Changbai Mountain.
We also have policy advantages. Beijing will host the Olympic Winter Games; and people all over the country actively participate in the ice-snow industry. Jilin Province takes the lead to issue the Suggestions on the Implementation of Promotion of Innovation and Development of Summer Leisure and Recreation Industry and Suggestions on Implementation of Bigger Ice-snow Industry to introduce widely received policies for businesses in terms of ice-snow industry. The Er Dao Bai He Town located at the north slope of the Changbai Mountain is the pilot project for the new urbanization in China. With the Chengdu Declaration published by the United Nations, the Changbai Mountain’s Chibei District is listed as the pilot city for international sustainable development.
We have brand advantages. The Changbai Mountain is honored as the World Natural Reserve, the International Biosphere Reserve, the International Gene Pool for Biological Species, the National Geopark of China, one of the 10 Most Famous Mountains in China and others.
Our vision is to create the world-class winter tourism destination, the international mountain sports paradise and the global summer healthcare resort.
Our implementation approaches are divided into strategic level and tactical level. Strategically, we will implement the “Changbai +” strategy and the globalization of the world-class resource so as to create a space and industrial layout of ‘‘one circle, two belts and one ring’’. One circle refers to the creation of the Changbai Mountain ‘‘sports + healthcare’’ small town circle, that is basing on the distinct resource endowment of the Changbai Mountain, with adherence to the idea of being the unique and the first in the world, we will set up the circle for the characteristic towns into the layout Big Dipper. Centered on the Tianchi, it will influence 50 to 80 kilometers，including 7 towns. We are going to create the Big Dipper Characteristic Town Circle with the 7 towns , and every town has its own special characteristic . For the two belts, led by the superior resources of the Changbai Mountain, we are going to create the 12+2 alliance sports healthcare industry belt in the eastern part of Northeast China so as to boost the integral development of the industries related to sports and healthcare in the Greater Northeast Region; and to create the industrial belt of "migratory birds" ice-snow south diversion. We arrange the indoor ski parks in the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, the Hainan Island and the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone to realize “the skiing practice in the south, skiing experience in the north and the skiing worship on the Changbai Mountain”. The one ring refers to the integration into the world-class golden powder snow circles. We target at the Alps and will introduce the resources of science and technology, training, education and others so as to achieve the leapfrog development of the ice-snow industry. Changbai Mountain has signed the framework agreements in succession with Austrian Embassy and commissioned the design planning of the Changbai Mountain ice-snow industry with Andorra PGI Group. Meanwhile, we also have introduced Ice Hotel in Sweden, Christmas Paradise in Finland and other brands.
Tactically, we are going to build the three major snow areas on the Changbai Mountain comprised of the northern, the western and the southern snow regions. These are some elements of our northern snow region, including the cross country skiing and the snowmobile skiing. Meanwhile, we are also going to release an index. On September 18th, we cooperated with the Xinhua News Agency to release the Changbai Index for China winter tourism. The Index will be the wind indicator, the barometer and the compass for the ice-snow industry in the future.
We are also going to hold the “Home Diplomacy”, that is, the world-renowned International Changbai Mountain Ice Silk Road Summit Forum. General Secretary Xi signed an agreement with Russian Medvedev to redevelop the Arctic Ocean channel last year. After its opening, compared with the Suez Canal, the channel will shorten 2, 700 nautical miles and 12 days. The shortest delivery time will be 8 days, with maximum 30 days saved. Meanwhile, we are going to establish the first share of ice-snow for the China A-shares. The 603099, the Changbai Mountain Tourism Co., Ltd, was listed on the main board on August 22, 2014. We want to create the combination blow of industry + finance via the fund incubation and the market value merger and acquisition.
For the two training bases, namely, the Training Base for Olympic Winter Games Athletes and the Training Base for Olympic Winter Games Volunteers. Besides, we’ll carry out the biddings for important events and competitions at home and abroad. What I want to emphasize here is that we are going to bid for the Winter Youth Olympics in 2024. If we succeed, Olympic Games in China will meet a grand slam.
For the International Mountain Sports Paradise, there are 360-km slow traffic system, 700-km golden waterway, 5A mountain sports town, self-driving RV campground, cycling and hiking post, the largest Asian ski park, the best Asian slope obstacle course, the largest domestic cross country skiing park, the first domestic skiing museum, the first domestic snow crossing tourism corridor, the first domestic extreme sports hall, the first domestic Linhai Xueyuan motorcycle crossing, the first domestic jet boat sports base, the first domestic waterfall ice climbing base, the first domestic snowmobile skiing park and 80% of them are launched.
On the IP of summer healthcare resorts in China, Changbai Mountain has a temperature of 22 degrees Celsius, is the largest global northern medicine base, the largest global ginseng cultural and industrial base, the largest global sika deer industrial base, the largest global hot spring tribe, the largest global city of mineral springs, the largest global place of production of Ganoderma Lucidum and the best domestic place of production of wild tricholoma matsutake.
We look forward to strengthening the exchange of experience with our peers, north-south interaction, complementary resources, brand creation and shared interests and promoting the development of the industry.
"Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets", so the world of ice-snow are also the invaluable assets. Jilin Province has the green color as its impression and the white color as its feature.
Dear friends, Changbai Mountain is the “meeting room” of Jilin Province, the “backyard” of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region and the “fitness room” of the entire China. Visiting the white Changbai Mountain, you will be impressed.
Welcome to Changbai Mountain, a place of longing.
Question & Answer
Host: Thank you, Mr. Li Yiyang. I have also been to many famous mountains in China, including the Changbai Mountain. Does any audience want to ask questions from the three speakers? If you have any questions, please raise your hands, introduce yourself briefly, and then ask your questions.
Question: I'm from Moscow and I want to ask questions about Mont Blanc. There were many visitors went to Mont Blanc; and we also found a very big problem: There are too many climbers. Do you believe that the scenic overload will influence the development of the scenic spot in the future?
Didier Joseph: In summer, there are many problems on the Mont Blanc. Because there are too many people. We also have some shelters and rest places halfway up the mountain. Sometimes it will reach more than 120 people and sometimes more than 200 people, so the whole security and shelter measures need to be followed up. Therefore, we are also discussing with government departments to decide whether to limit the number of tourists to 240 per day and start it in the next year. If you want to climb the Mont Blanc next summer, you need a permit, and you need to apply for a permit before climbing. This is a very difficult decision, but it is a must for safety and protection of Mont Blanc.
Cairngorms National Park
CEO of Cairngorms National Park Mark Andrew Tate
Thanks for the introduction by the Host. I'm here today to correct your conception. There are mountains in England. I represent the Cairngorm Mountain. I come from a private organization that is intended to support its member units to drive the management and development and carry out the better destination management. For the destination management, we further enhance the popularity of Cairngorm Mountain as the tourist resort. Meanwhile, we also cooperate with relevant governmental national park management department, that is, the Cairngorm National Park Authority. I am very happy to participate in the "Dialogue among Famous Mountains in the World" this afternoon.
First of all, welcome to Cairngorm National Park in England located in Scotland, England, established in 2003, the largest national park in England.
When our national park was just established, our boundary was not determined according to the national park or the mountain itself. However, we wanted to include the local aborigines. So we decided that the national park was not only important for the nature but also important for the local mountain culture and the people living here. Besides, the national park is also the home for more than 19, 000 aborigines. We want to include these aboriginal communities into the boundary and also provide them with better opportunities for economic development, which is also included into the local legislation. The aim is to protect and further strengthen the heritage of natural culture and promote the harmonious development of human and nature. The second point is the sustainable use of natural resources; the third is the further promotion of understanding and respect for the special features of the region and the fourth is the further improvement of its sustainable economic and social development. Therefore, the national park is set up to protect but also develop the local mountain economy, especially to encourage local people to understand and enjoy this natural environment and to use these resources responsibly and sustainably.
Let me share with you why so special this place is. 47% of Cairngorm National Park is as wilderness while 49% of the land is used in accordance with international practices and standards. We have the protection responsibility. Besides, 25% rare and endangered species can be found in the national park in England. It is also home to 25% of Scottish native wood forests and the source of three great Scottish rivers.In addition to natural relics, there are cultural properties. For example, there are some heritages, including those for royal family. The British royal family bought Balmoral Castle in 1852 and used it as a royal holiday home in Scotland.
Besides, our economy is also largely supported by mountain tourism, which provides us with 43% of direct employment opportunities. Most of the businesses here are small companies and enterprises, and probably most of the companies have fewer than 10 employees. Most of the lands in the national park are privately owned; and they are also a very important part of the economy. In 2003, Scotland passed a law that all individuals in this land must have non-motorized traffic modes in this national park, namely, walking, riding bicycles, riding horses, etc, so as to better protect our original ecological environment. Our number of tourists reached 1.9 million in 2017 with an increase of 0.2 million compared with 1.7 million of the previous year, so we also welcome you to visit the Cairngorm National Park. 54% of tourists come from Scotland, 25% from other parts of Britain, 14% from Europe, and the rest from other countries and regions.
What attracts tourists to visit the Cairngorm National Park? We know that 35 % of tourists who mainly want to see the beautiful scenery here and 18 % come here for hiking. Besides, 18% are the regular customers who have been here before and want to enjoy the beautiful scenery again while 17 % are here for leisure. These tourists enjoy parent-child tours, family trips, or relatively casual and comfortable tours, so most of them go sightseeing, photographing or watching the wild animals, cycling and take part in the ice-snow activities in winter here. We also have ice-snow sports such as sledding and skiing in winter. Therefore, we have developed a series of tourism products of mountain tourism. How do our travelers or tourists feel? They enjoy our national park very much. According to our survey, 96% of people enjoy their experience very much in the national park; 98% will recommend our national park to their friends. According to a saying from the "Father of National Parks" that "One day’s exposure to the mountains is better than a cart load of books". That's all for today. I also hope to invite more people to visit Cairngorm National Park in England.
Mount Cook
Manawa Tours Ltd General Manager Brenda Tahi
（Maori Language）Hello, everyone! I am very glad to come to Guizhou. I am also very glad to express my very sincere greetings to Guizhou people. Just now I spoke Maori. Maori is a very ancient language. I also hope that I can express the most sincere greetings by virtue of this traditional language to Guizhou people. I am Brenda Tahi, the general manager of New Zealand Malawa Tourism Corporation. As a Maori, today I want to put emphasis of the narration on how aboriginal people take part in tourism. For the Maori, mountains are our ancestors just like Mount Tai. For everyone, mountains have different symbolic meanings and the same is true in New Zealand.
I will tell you from our demi-god Auraki who lived in the heavens with the Sky Father, and who, with his brothers came down in their canoe one day to visit the Earth Mother. On looking to return home, Aoraki recited an incantation but made a mistake – this spelt doom and left their canoe stranded on rocks. Over time the wreckage of the canoe became the South Island and Aoraki and his brothers turned to stone, their hair turning white – and they became the highest peaks of the Southern Alps of New Zealand.
This is the Southern Alps – they extend for 500km as the backbone of the South Island.They boast 24 mountains over 3000m in height and there are over 3,000 glaciers. This charming scenery has also become a perfect background for activities of South Island. For famous film producers, this is also a perfect base to find a view. The trilogy of The Lord of the Rings very familiar to everyone is shot on South Alps. The summit of Alps is Mount Aoraki which is now generally called Mount Cook. Mount Aoraki is the highest mountain of New Zealand and Australia. The altitude of the mountain is over 3,700m. Though it is not a mountain with the highest altitude, it is a very challenging mountain for a climber.
To speak of challenges, for people climbing Mount Cook, this is surely an impressive journey. Many people will start from Queensland Region to carry out their challenges, so here we have also developed quite a lot of sports and recreation events, such as skiing, glacier trekking and some extreme sports related with skiing or paraglider. It is also a very hot event of us on South Alps. You can also see australis lights and some people even hold their wedding in glacier and mountainous region. Of course, the ultimate achievement is summiting.
What do the aborigines do on this land? How do they think about it?This is the wife of a chief of Maori in 1902 – destitute and displaced from her homeland. In the 19th century Maori lost nearly all of the South Island through trickery and empty promises by the New Zealand government. They became impoverished and virtually landless as a people. As a nationality, they hardly had any piece of land. This was all caused by New Zealand Government’s trick or empty promise then. They even lost their lifestyle and their language and culture. But in 1998 they received compensation of $170m from the New Zealand government for past wrongs and they have used these monies to grow economically and culturally since that time. Part of their focus in this recovery has been strategic investment in tourism.So such investment is quite strategic for them.
Now, Maori Tourism is one of the largest tourism operators in New Zealand, owning 14 iconic tourism businesses and hosting over 1 million customers each year.But the major result here for Maori is not just their commercial success but also a reconnection for them with their natural resources that they had become divorced from through their loss of land. Thus, their jet boat tours reconnect them with their rivers;their heli-tours reconnect them with their mountain landscapes and their ancient ancestors.;their darkness reserve reconnects them with their celestial beings and knowledge …so such a travel agency made quite a lot of profits through these projects and made more extensive contributions to wider social development through these profits– for initiatives such as retirement savings, education, development projects and youth leadership. So this is what of Maori in general in our country.
In early New Zealand tourism, Maori were just an object of curiosity or a spectacle of entertainment.
Maori might have been employed as seasonal or casual employees but would never been the business owners or operators.Certainly they never had any industry influence and they can only depend on natural resources, which are everyone’s prejudice and concept for them. But Maori are now owning and operating a wide range of tourism businesses that utilizes our lands and forest and showing various cultures.
The beekeeper we see now is from Manawa Honey and Tours.
Here’s the challenge where we live – it’s an isolated disadvantaged region, but it is a very special beautiful place – it is the place of origin of our tribe Tuhoe, sitting at the heart of our tribal homeland. Our businesses started with the question of how to utilize our extensive forest-covered mountains.We chose beekeeping to aerially farm the floral resources of our forests.And then tourism as a way of sustainable using our lands and reaching out to the world.
We developed a range of products and established our own brand – Manawa which means heart, which drives everything we do.It also refers to our homeland lying at the heart of the North Island. We trained our own local people to give them jobs and meaningful careers – as beekeepers, in honey production, in business support and in sales and marketing.Therefore, we can also realize self-reliable development in the process of development.We then opened up our honey business and lands for tourism:tours of our apiaries & inside the hive，fishing our pure clean rivers, horse-riding & treks through our forests and along our river valleys, hunting high on our hills and deep in our forest.
We started our businesses for jobs and decent incomes for our people so they could stay in the homeland and keep the home fires burning and to maintain our culture at the centre of our lives. But we also wanted to build a commercial platform through which we can invest back into the community and the land.
We also have some small-scale projects.We commit some of our profits each year back into our community for purposes such as research, education and youth development. Here’s some of our young people learning about our medicinal plants in the depths of our forest – this is part of a programme to reconnect our youth with the life essence of our forest.
We recently won some business awards - astounding the competition as well as the people at home – even ourselves! We’re really proud of this achievement because it demonstrates that we can reach the pinnacles of business even though we started with just the raw talents and hard work of our people and a burning commitment to create something our kids can look up to.
While food gives us the blood in our veins, it is the land that gives us life itself. As Maori in New Zealand we have known what it’s like to near lose life itself – our lands, our identity, our culture and language – but we have been regaining these in recent decades to give new life to current and future generations. Our lesson from New Zealand for mountain tourism across the world is to ensure that such development does not undermine the rights of indigenous or local peoples with regard to their lands, way of life and culture; and does not deny these peoples the full range of opportunities for participation that mountain tourism can bring.
Thank you for the opportunity to present New Zealand - our famous mountains, our people and our lessons. I look forward to your questions.
Elbrus Mountain
Marketing Specialist of Alpindustria Tour Antonina Kukushkina
I am very honored to display the happiest place in the world to everyone here today. At least, the happiest place of Russia. We know that we cannot buy happiness with money, but at least I can tell you a place where you can find happiness. This is the place I want to share with everyone today.
Today, I represent Elbrus Mountain in Russia. It is the peak in Russia with the elevation of 8500 feet. It is a holy land for skiing and for taking a holiday, so it is a very hot place. Every year, there are about over one thousand climbers climbing Elbrus Mountain. Meanwhile, there are different climbing teams. They can climb from the east, the west, the south and the north. However, more people start to climb from the south and they can reach the summit after about 8 days. Summer is its hot climbing season. There are many climbing teams from Europe, US and Indonesia reaching the summit here.
In Elbrus Region, there are many popular activities. For instance, there is a photo when I reached the summit in 2008. This is an activity done by me with the largest amount of exercise for my whole life. In this region, we have some schools teaching skiing. You can learn skills of skiing or rent equipment there. Elbrus Mountain is indeed a very good place for everyone to go and you can ski downward from the summit.
I know many tourists who come to Elbrus Mountain want to ski on helicopter, because this is very interesting. Since Elbrus Mountain has a very large vertical span, our helicopter has a very professional pilot and is operated by a professional company, everyone can have a very special experience. What is more, the snow season is very long on Elbrus Mountain and we can see snow for almost a whole year.
There are 30 professional mountain guides in our team. Most are very experienced. There are guides with experience in reaching the summit for over 20 times. We have professional rescue team members and a series of equipped professionals. We are also a member of Association of Mountain Guides of Russia.
In addition, I want to introduce Alps Industrial Tourism Corporation to you. Our company were established in 1988. This year, we are going to celebrate our 30-year-old birthday. At the very beginning, it was set up by a group of alpinists and outdoor enthusiasts. A very small store was opened in Moscow. At that time, we provided some mountain climbing equipment with high quality and then we started to operate some travel agencies in Europe little by little. Afterwards, we started to do business in wholesale of tourism and then retail. We operate both inbound tourism and outbound tourism and also include exploration, such as climbing the highest one of seven mountains in Elbrus, sightseeing, trekking and other activities, including inbound tourism and outbound tourism in Russia.
As a tourism corporation, we should also assume some social responsibilities, so we cooperate a lot with local people. We also think it is necessary to protect ecological environment in mountainous region. We also have some festivals and matches of mountainous region and meanwhile we encourage climbers to protect environment. This is the ecological project of Elbrus. In the mountain-climbing season every year, we clean its environment. In August of this year, there were about 200 volunteers joining in and they cleaned about over 55 tons of rubbishes together. This is a voluntary protecting ecological environment activity organized by us. What is more, we also hold a series of activities and matches. There is a very large-scale match in Russia every year. We call it Elbrus Mountain Running and it means running along the mountain. Its total distance is about 112 km and the elevation is more than 5000m. Most races are cross-country races. Cross-country race amateurs from all over the world will come here to take part in Elbrus Mountain Running and try to win the first place.
Just now I asked the representative from Mount Blanc how do you solve your accommodation and how to process the relationship between accommodation, hotel and local environment. On Elbrus Mountain, we can all provide accommodation at different elevations so there cannot be so concentrated tourists in a place. Here, I want to share an ecological hotel owned by us with you. This is also the largest ecological hotel on Elbrus Mountain. With the elevation of about 4000m, it is not established by a company in Russia but established by a company in Italy in 2013. This hotel has four areas. Two are accommodation areas, one is a dining hall and the rest one is a facility area such as shower cubicle, toilets and so on. Why is it called as an ecological hotel? Because it is indeed a hi-tech ecological accommodation. It has an embedded ecological facility, such as a solar energy electric hot plate, etc. What is more, we dispose of waste through ecological bacterial model. Meanwhile, there are also flashlights on the roof and they can light and guide these lodgers or climbers back. Meanwhile, this roof can be also heated.
Welcome everyone to come to Russia. Welcome to climb Elbrus Mountain. If you want to climb Elbrus Mountain, this hotel displayed just now can be the best place for you to take a rest.
Question & Answer
Question: I represent WTTC. I have two questions. For the first question, I want to ask Mr. Mark Andrew Tate. You mentioned the investigation for tourists just now and the satisfaction of tourists is very high. Congratulations on you. Your tourists may come from different directions by different means of transportation, so I want to know how you made this investigation. For the second question, I want to ask Ms. Antonina Kukushkina on behalf of Russia. I spoke highly of the measures for you to protect mountain environment. You said you have annual activities to protect environment , but when you welcome more and more people to travel on Elbrus Mountain, more rubbish may be produced and will the annual garbage collection activity be enough? In a garbage collection activity, you disposed of more than 50 tons of rubbish. How do you dispose of these wastes?
Mark Andrew Tate: Thanks a lot for your question. In terms of the question of how to evaluate tourists’ satisfaction, our whole national park will carry out a very significant large-scale investigation and survey made for more than 3000 tourists for 12 months about every 5 years and then we will see their thoughts and satisfaction and what they look forward to. We will revisit them every 3 months.
Antonina Kukushkina: Thanks a lot for your question. This is a very good question. We welcome everyone to come here and we will make some efforts to dispose of wastes.
We should set up a model of disposing wastes in the industry of hotel and tourism. Of course, this is not the rubbish with the largest scale. We will screen it in certain degree. Some will be discarded and some will be recycled. We are one of many company doing such related work and we also have many other companies doing this thing. The president in our company is very enthusiastic in this aspect. He also welcomes more volunteers to join us to make a joint efforts.
Question: I am from Guizhou Tourism Association Tourism Commodity Branch. I want to ask Ms. Antonina Kukushkina one question. Now, tourism in China, especially mountain tourism, is booming. Guizhou is a major tourism province. Particularly, there is a common saying called “eighty percent of mountain, ten percent of water and ten percent of field”, so the mountain tourism development in Guizhou is very booming and rapid. Lately, the tourism interaction between Russia and China was also very rich. Especially, Guizhou has opened a flight directly from Guiyang to Moscow this year. Under this circumstance, what is worth learning and interacting between Guiyang and Russia and between China and Russia in tourism? Additionally, for tourists from China and Guizhou, which special policies do your company have that can attract more tourists to visit Elbrus? Meanwhile, I congratulate beforehand to your esteemed Company to have a happy birthday for the 30th anniversary.
Antonina Kukunova: Thanks a lot for your congratulation. Actually, in Moscow, between China and Russia, we have many different activities. There are a great many of exchanges not only in mountain tourism but also in other tourism fields. For instance, for Guizhou Province and Russia, we have many aspects to further promote cooperation. For us, we are very welcome for Chinese people or Guizhou people to have mountain tourism in Russia. They can also have a look at some other natural sceneries or other animal resources within such a spacious territory. Just now you mentioned how we should conduct more exchanges and learning in fields. I thought sustainable development is a field worth drawing close attention. At many large-scale meetings, we will conduct a discussion about the related topics in nature protection, which is more and more popular.
Mount Fuji
Chief of Mount Fuji World Heritage site in Yamanashi Prefecture Hirofumi Irumura
Hello everyone. My name is Hirofumi Irumura, coming from Autonomous Yamanashi Prefecture of Japan. What I engage in is the world heritage declaration of Mount Fuji and its subsequent conservation. It’s my pretty honor to be invited to visit here. Next I will briefly illustrate the details of world heritage Mount Fuji.
Mount Fuji was selected as a world heritage in 2013 and was described in the World Heritage List that “Mount Fuji, sacred place and source of artistic inspiration” by UNESCO. It’s the world heritage figure of Mount Fuji, which is generally located in the middle of Japan, and its northern part belongs to Yamanashi Prefecture where I am in, and southern part to Shizuoka Prefecture. It is successfully declared as a world heritage under the close cooperation between the two prefectures, thus it is jointly protected by them. The parts marked in red color are the assets that constitute the world heritage. Mount Fuji world heritage is comprised of 25 properties, with the massif of Mount Fuji included. The light orange part is buffer zone set as required. The grey part is the management zone delimited by Japan. The total areas of those parts added together reach 90,000 hectares. As places a little bit far away from that lies a significant viewpoint for overlooking Mount Fuji- Miho no Matsubara, which is also a world heritage. This is the picture of a bird’s eye view of “Fuji Five Lakes”, which is as well as a world heritage.
Most of you may think that Mount Fuji world heritage just refers to the mount itself, but actually it’s not so. Then I will show you some pictures to introduce the constituent parts apart from the massif of Mount Fuji.
This is a shrine. Long time ago Japanese believed that immortals lived in Mount Fuji and they could be reborn through climbing it. That is the reason why a swarm of people visit it; live in meditation abodes at the foot of it; take showers in lakes, pools, waterfalls or underground caves; worship shrines and climb the mount to pay a formal visit. That is the belief of Mount Fuji, which prevailed most from the 18th century to the early 19th century. This is one kind of shrine, which is known as “Imperial Master Residence”. An “Imperial Master” refers to people who engage in the missionary and prayer activities of “Belief of Mount Fuji” and take care of all of the behaviors of believers with “Belief of Mount Fuji”, like their daily lives when they climb it.
This is the waterfall for showers before climbing, and this is the underground cave formed due to volcano explosions of Mount Fuji. As the shape of the cave looks like a human being’s uterus, it becomes a holy land for people to take showers before their climbing. This is the place for tourists to clean their bodies before climbing and one of the pools of the so-called “Springs of Mount Fuji”, which are formed by the springs gushed out from Mount Fuji.
Through the above introductions to each property comprising of the world heritage, I believe you’ve already understood why Mount Fuji, as a holy land for beliefs, is selected as a world heritage. These are the believers of Mount Fuji. In addition, “Belief of Mount Fuji” has been passed down to this day.
Mount Fuji is listed in world heritages not only because it’s “A sacred place”, but is also “A Source of artistic inspiration”. Mount Fuji has always been the theme of various artistic works, such as literature, painting, crafts, etc. since ancient times.
This is one of the ukiyoe paintings named “Fuyue Thirty-Six Scenes” depicting from multiple respects of Mount Fuji, which is done by a famous painter called Katsushika Hokusai. And now what you see is another one of the “Fuyue Thirty-Six Scenes”. The two you just saw are especially famous in “Fuyue Thirty-Six Scenes”.
This is the back of the banknote being worth 1,000 yen, which is now current in Japan. The picture on this banknote is exactly one of the world heritages------- Lake Motosu.
This is the painting called “The Portrait of Old Father Tanguy” painted by Van Gogh, in which Mount Fuji is drawn. In particular, the Ukiyoe that depicted Mount Fuji had a significant influence on western fine arts circles after 19th century. Thereupon, it was known as “Source for artistic inspiration”.
Mount Fuji is listed into world heritages as a cultural heritage, but not a natural one. Since around 1992, the natural conservation groups of Shizuoka Prefecture and Yamanashi Prefecture establish “Liaison and Consultation Council for Mount Fuji Heritage Declaration” to promote the heritage declaration of Mount Fuji. At that time, people did not have a thorough understanding about the difference between natural heritages and cultural ones. In 1995, Japan invited International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and domestic experts to hold an international experts conference, on which relevant topics about declarations on natural heritages and cultural ones were discussed.
After that, on “A Symposium on Candidate Regions for World Natural Heritages” jointly held by Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in 2003, Mount Fuji was not listed as a domestic world heritage candidate. It was because the participants of that symposium believed that it didn’t satisfy the demanding standards of listing as a natural heritage. Put in specific words, it was considered to have no outstanding universal values on geology or terrain. Besides, though some endangered and scarce species inhabit in, there are problems on their protection, because they are commonly seen in areas below its hillside, which has a close relation with human being’s lives.
However, it was successfully declared as a world heritage in 2013 after ten years’ effort, during which active endeavors were made by Shizuoka Prefecture and Yamanashi Prefecture, strong supports were given by Japanese government, and various sessions were held aiming at cultural heritage declaration.
However, as many said, its successful declaration was just a beginning, but not an ending. When Mount Fuji was declared for a world heritage, a many of problems were pointed out and it was required to submit State of Conservation Report in 2016. Thus Shizuoka Prefecture and Yamanashi Prefecture submitted conservation reports 3 years after its successful declaration. World Heritage Committee thought highly of the reports and regarded them as world models. At the same time, it asked Japan to re-submit the reports in 2018, namely, the time before 1 December of this year. Now those reports are being translated into English and bound in volumes, entering the final preparation stage.
Finally, I’d like to introduce you the solutions on the problems of Mount Fuji. When it was listed in World heritage List, World Heritage Committee of UNESCO pointed out numerous problems pending to be solved. Generally speaking, the first one is, to interpret and popularize its outstanding universal values to more people; second one are the solution to the management of its large number of visitors and the last one is the control on the extensive landscape improvement and development of its properties and buffer zones.
As for the interpretation and popularization of the outstanding universal values, World Heritage Committee pointed out that the 25 properties that comprise the Fuji world heritage can’t be managed independently, but should be regarded as a whole so that more people can know their values. One of the methods of solving this problem is to set up world heritage centers separately in Shizuoka Prefecture and Yamanashi Prefecture after being listed in World Heritage List to carry out researches and demonstrations oriented by researchers. And now what you are seeing is the outside scene of the world heritage center in Shizuoka Prefecture. Its shape is designed as an upside-down Mount Fuji, whose shadow reflecting in the pool is exactly Mount Fuji.
The second problem is on visitor management, that is, the problem on the numerous climbers who aim at climbing on Mount Fuji. The mountaineering season of Mount Fuji is from 1 July to 10 September. There is 1 mountain trail close to Shizuoka Prefecture and 3 near Yamanashi Prefecture. Climbers usually take bus to the hillside of each trail, and then start their mountaineering. Among those people, approximately 60 percentages are concentrated on the trail close to Shizuoka Prefecture. In recent 10 years, the year with the most climbers is 2010, the time before Mount Fuji being listed as a world heritage with the number being 0.32 million, among which, 0.19 million of climbers used the trail near Shizuoka Prefecture.The number of climbers in total last year was 0.28 million, among which 0.17 million took the trail close to Shizuoka Prefecture. Among the climbers, the percentage of foreigners is 30%, with tourists from China accounting for about 20%. That means among foreign tourists, the number of Chinese is the largest, followed by Americans. The problem pointed out by UNESCO is exactly on the trail close to Shizuoka Prefecture. From this picture, you can find that in the evening, the crowds are in disarray on the trail near Shizuoka Prefecture. It looks like this when seeing from a distance.
This is the scene of sunrise on the peak. Current Mount Fuji is still regarded as a mountain of belief by many people, so climbing it is not just a sport, because climbers do that with different objectives embraced. When there are a large number of people, thousands of people will climb together aiming at enjoying the sunrise on the top of the mountain. Then there will be the phenomenon that in the evening, the climbing crowds are in disarray on the trail.
As a countermeasure to solve the disorder resulting from numerous tourists, the scenic spot has adopted various measures, such as limiting the number of private cars, being equipped with ushers, dispersing tourists through the promptly released traffic information etc., so that the disarray of the scenic spot can be mitigated. However, there are still a few days when things get messy which cannot be avoided. This is the consultation center built on hillside. Here one English interpreter and one Chinese interpreter are manned for daily use, who are responsible for providing all information on the traffic information of climbing trails.
In addition, to receive the large number of tourists, we invested a lot of money for repairing and maintaining the trails, toilets, manning doctors and nurses, etc. After its successful declaration, the costs on repairing and maintaining of the 4 trails are obtained through the Mount Fuji Conservation Funds raised in a donation but not compulsory form. Last year, totally 105 million yen were collected from 0.15 million of the climbers, that is the half of all the climbers.
The third problem is on landscape. Before it was listed as a world heritage, World Heritage Committee indicated that the man-made items built in Mount Fuji impact its holy atmosphere. And it also said that more rigorous restrictions should be taken to the buildings on the hillside, such as hotels.
The above are my brief introductions about Mount Fuji to you. I just made hurried and superficial introductions that only part of the conservation methods are illustrated. Mount Fuji now centers at Shizuoka Prefecture and Yamanashi Prefecture, who invest a large amount of manual labors to conserve. Besides, we will try our best to protect and conserve Mount Fuji forever.
Thank you !
Mount Himalaya
President of Nepal Association of Tour & Travel Agents Madhusudan Acharya
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen! My name is Madhusudan Acharya and I am from Nepal. Today, I represent the Nepal Association of Tour & Travel Agents to attend the Annual Conference of International Mountain Tourism Alliance. Founded in 1966, it is one of the oldest associations in Nepal. Today, I will share you with the development of mountain tourism in Nepal, its history, our visions and measures.
There are seven highest peaks on seven continents, and the roof of the world is the Himalaya that is at the border of China and Nepal. Nepal is situated at the border of China and India geographically. Among the peaks over 8000 meters above sea level in the world , 14 of them are located in Nepal and most of them are on the Himalayas.The range of the mountain higher than 8000 meters runs through the south of China to the north of Nepal, connecting India directly.
We had this concept since 1988 of gathering the strengths of several countries to develop our mountain resources together. China, Japan and Nepal have a joint cooperative exploration project, or what we call it the friendship expedition. We three countries participate in together and are divided into two groups, one group ascending to the top from Nepal and the other group ascending to the top from China. The two groups reached the peak at the same time and then meet, which is a milestone moment in the history of mountaineering, especially in the history of mountaineering of China, Japan and Nepal. We can popularize this form because there are many mountains stretching across the borders of several countries. Out of 1792 climbing peaks in Nepal, only 403 are are opened for climbing activities, remaining 1389 peaks still unclimbed. As the demand for climbing continues to rise, we will open more peaks for climbers.
This is a comparative statement of summitteers of mountains having height above 8000 meters in the year of 2015 and 2016. You can look at these numbers on this table. For example, we have 197 summitteers of Mount. Everest in 2016. We can find that some peaks are very difficult to climb. These peaks are still very challenging for climbers. Peaks in Nepal are also challenged by climate changes, and climbing the peaks in Nepal is also relatively difficult.
This is the ranking of the expenses of each climber based on the altitudes of different peaks in different seasons. The climbing to the Mount Everest costs 2, 750 US dollars in winter which is relatively low. While the spring is the peak period of the climbing, so the expenses will be higher. And all these expenses are paid to the Government of Nepal.
Waste disposal is one of the biggest challenges we are facing.We are trying our best to advocate the reuse and recycling of waste disposal now. Fifteen years ago, the Nepal government launched an initiative to cooperate with mountaineering associations and enterprises in different industries to clean up garbage and waste in Mount Everest or in the Himalayas. And the government also made a massive investment in this initiative. It is very difficult to clean up these wastes in the mountains because there is no way to use any machines or equipment, and all the wastes need to be carried from the top to the bottom of the mountain by manpower for treatment because there is no way to use any vehicles to transport them. So this is a big challenge for us, and we also have made great efforts to this end.
This is the deposit that every mountaineer needs to pay before climbing, and different mountain peaks need the payment of different deposits and one of which is for the garbage management. If they don’t throw any wastes, then they will get the deposits back. If they pollute the environment, the deposit will be confiscated.
This is the history of mountain tourism in Nepal. We do have a long history. Many tourists will come to Nepal to climb to the peak at different historical stages .
We have14 peaks of over 8000 meters above sea level that are in the Nepalese mountainous areas where foreign tourists are very fond of and pay close attention to especially. Since the 1950s, Nepal has been put in a very important position in mountain climbing because two French people had climbed Annapurna Peak in 1950 and there was a book written about it in 1956 with sales of 11 million. We can imagine that this book has brought us great fame and made the outside world know more about our region and the mountain tourism of this place. In addition, on May 29,1953, human beings have climbed the Mount Everest for the first time successfully which made the International Mountain Tourism Alliance designate May 29 as the International Mountain Tourism Day this year. This is also a commemoration day for the successful ascent of Mount Everest. Therefore, there are very milestone events indeed in the course of history. Nepal is also known as the most popular and famous mountain exploration destination in the world.
What activities can we do on the mountains? For example, mountaineering, ice climbing, rock climbing and so on. We also have different publicity campaigns of mountain tourism and mountaineering. We will participate in and organize some meetings and forums related to mountain tourism. We call the May 29 as the Mount Everest Day, and we celebrate the successful reaching of the top of Mount Everest and hold some activities on the day. In addition, we will organize a competition to climb 14 peaks, which will be awarded with Silver/Golden & Diamond jubilee of all 14 highest peaks. What’s more, we will also promote our mountaineering festival and a series of exploration activities around the world, and we are developing new activities.
The benefits we can bring to the mountain people are, first of all, direct benefits from social economic development, and then employment generation. Actually, people in these mountains would not celebrate their birthdays before the development of mountain tourism. But as western mountain climbers went to these places, and they celebrated their birthdays and Christmas as well. So there are many deep, rich and meaningful cultures worthy of everyone’s experience. Especially in the local communities, their minority culture also has a long history and is very attractive. Moreover, after the earthquake in Nepal, we carried out a series of reconstruction activities and we also received many phone calls of sympathy in which many people wanted to volunteer to help us in the reconstruction after the disaster. Now, many schools and public facilities have been rebuilt to help us recover from the devastating earthquake.
This is a summary of some of our experience in mountain tourism development. For example, we must make a cultural adaptation first, which we may have to adapt to western culture. At the same time, we must pay attention to hygiene and sanitation, and build bridges of understanding and familiarity between strangers and locals. In addition, we need to balance the number of passenger flows in the off-season and peak-season because some places experience over crowd during tourist season and slacks in off season. What’s more, we find that local villages and many families are aware of the importance of tourism to their lives now, and they are becoming more and more aware of the master consciousness, even doing some small businesses and setting up companies, thus we need to carry out more publicity and education.
We do ecological tourism mainly to promote sustainable development in which one aspect is the development of ecological tourism, and the other aspect is the promotion of regional development through the development of ecological tourism. The development of ecological tourism is divided into three parts: economic, social and environmental.
The other is the regional development, we also put it into a higher level, which together with the development of ecological tourism can further promote sustainable development.
In addition, we have also issued some guidelines to provide tourism enterprises with corresponding rules and regulations, or codes of conduct, which will list what can be done, what is prohibited and what cannot be violated. In this way, we can better educate the local people and those who have their own tourism enterprises and companies to protect the environment and contribute to sustainable development. We also need to protect national parks and mountains, such as our national park, where there are three wildlife reserves, one hunting reserve and different wildlife reserves, and we have corresponding programs and policies to serve them.
Why are we so attractive? Because we have four UNESCO listed World Heritages Sites and Monuments here. And we have both adventure activities and cultural tours, thus Nepal can provide you with many unique experiences indeed.
This is some of the international recognition we have received. In 2016, Nepal was voted Number 1 Destination to Visit in 2016 by Rough Guides based in UK.
Nepal will organize the Buddhist International Travel Mart in 2019, and I am very grateful to the International Mountain Tourism Alliance for giving us this opportunity.
Today, the world is very intelligent and all our things are on mobile phones and computers. With a click on the mouse, you can buy clothes and you can have a takeout delivered to your door. However, the tourism is different. No matter how intelligent the world becomes and how advanced technology is, people need to go out to the place where you travel, stay and experience by yourself. So I want to invite you not only to Nepal, but also to the famous mountains around the world to visit these beautiful mountainous areas. This can provide you with the best experience in your life. As I said before, a book written by a previous mountaineer about his mountaineering experience with sales of 11 million, which also shows how enthusiastic people are about mountaineering all over the world.
Mount Huangshan
Huangshan Tourism Development Co.,Ltd. Assistant To The President, Wei Chao
Nepal has always been my favorite place. After listening to the in-depth introduction by the distinguished guests, I believe that I will go to Nepal and feel the beautiful scenery of it.
Dear distinguished guests and friends, good afternoon! I am very happy to have the opportunity to participate in this exchange platform here. It must be fate that I come to Guizhou today and communicate with Didier Josephe of the Mont-Blanc on the development of mountains after I visited a very famous exhibition of the Mont-Blanc. I believe that under the impetus of the IMTA, each mountain will certainly develop very well.
I am Wei Chao from Mount Huangshan and I'd like to give you an introduction about how the beautiful scenery IP of the Mount Huangshan leads the new era of mountain tourism development. Today, my introduction is divided into three parts. In the first part, I will briefly introduce the basic situation of Mount Huangshan as a scenic spot. The second part is an introduction about the creation of strategic leading methods based on the holistic IP of Mount Huangshan. The third part is a basic elaboration and introduction about four aspects of works we have done on the basis of such IP creation.
First of all, I would like to introduce to you about what on earth the Mount Huangshan is. The Mount Huangshan has the following important international titles: it's the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, the World Geopark, the World Biosphere Reserve, the National 5A Tourist Attraction, one of the China's Top Ten Scenic Spots and the National Renowned Scenic and Tourist Attraction.
Based on these titles, its main scenic spot resources include strangely-shaped pines, grotesque stone, sea of clouds, hot springs and recently developed winter snows. We mainly forge the contents of this five aspects as our landscape resources. In addition to these resources, the left and the right sides(the east and the west) of the Mount Huangshan are being developed for the differentiated products, namely, the ecological parks in the east and the west. People are accustomed to know about the five most fabulous scenes of the Mount Huangshan for its sightseeing values in the North and South. A few days ago, we created the Dream Scenic Area in the west so as to form such effect with the methods of ecological tourism. In the eastern region this year, with the opening of the high-speed railway, it will take only one hour from Hangzhou to the Mount Huangshan and two hours from Shanghai to the Mount Huangshan by the end of this year. Around the changes in the traffic location, we created the ecological tourism in the eastern region. With a 6km cableway, the entire eastern region will be built into a scenic spot dominated by exploratory ecological experience. These two parts are an effective extension of the Mount Huangshan on the basis of the previous sightseeing scenic spot. This is an introduction of the basic situation of the Mount Huangshan.
Next, I would like to briefly introduce about how the beautiful scenery IP leads the tourism development of the Mount Huangshan. As we all know, there are two definitions of the Mount Huangshan. The first refers to the Huangshan Mountain Scenic Spot, the concept is with an area of 160 square kilometers in terms of space. For greater range, it refers to the concept of the Huangshan City covering more than 1000 square kilometers which was the gathering place for the ancient Huizhou. It's also hoped that the development of the all-for-one tourism of the Mount Huangshan will promote the development of Huizhou culture, Huangshan Scenic Spot and the IP.
Why is there such a development process? I want to give you a review. Deng Xiaoping's talk on the Mount Huangshan in 1979 opened up the history of the development of the Huangshan Mountain Scenic Spot, laid the foundation for the historical position of the Mount Huangshan as the modern tourism industry in China. In a manner of speaking, Chinese tourism started from the Mount Huangshan. Under the guidance of such a spirit, the Huangshan Tourism Development Co.,Ltd. was successfully listed in 1996 and was the first tourism concept stock in China in the complete sense. In the entire process of tourism development, the Huangshan tourism also made a series of achievements.
At present, we are also facing with more changes in transportation and the diversified needs for consumption. It is difficult for the traditional culture of " five most fabulous scenes" to meet our current personalized needs. It can be seen that various mountain scenic spots, including the those described above, will use more interactive and exploratory ways to conduct diverse feeling and listening experience. As a sightseeing scenic spot, it's necessary for us to make diverse changes, so we put forward the creation of the beautiful scenery of IP. The beautiful scenery doesn't represent the beautiful scenery of IP, so we need to transform from the resource orientation to the IP-leading type. In order to transform the beautiful scenery into specific IP industry and project, we need to reform the industrial development from this perspective. So, we have put forward new requirements on the national, the provincial and the municipal level. In the past two years, we also put forward the goal and requirements for walking down the mountain, going out and second startup. Meanwhile, we also propose the collateral stability and accuracy, the combination of long and short term and the internal and external refining. Specific to the geographical area, we have also expanded the content of development within the overall scope of Huangshan City accordingly and put forward the all-for-one development strategy of "One mountain, one river, one village and one cave" so as to enhance the resources integration effect of walking down the mountain and going out accordingly via the IP linkage of various differentiated tourism resource attractions in the unified area.
Next, I will introduce our work on how to create such a beautiful scenery IP from four aspects. The first is the focus on the “Tourism+” to enhance the aggregation force of destinations. The second is the construction of the soft power of the destinations via the brand operation. The third is the triggering of the perception of the destination through the empowerment of personality. The fourth is the enhancement of attractiveness of the tourist destination in the content marketing.
The first aspect is about the “Tourism +”. The “Tourism +” includes many parts, including “Tourism + Small town”, “Tourism + Cultural Tourism”, “Tourism + Sports”, “Tourism + E-commerce”, “Tourism + Green agriculture”, “Tourism + Performing arts”. Following, I will introduce the major works we are doing. The first is about the “Tourism + Small town”. We cooperated with Bluetown Group to complete the joint venture platform company and simultaneously promoted the construction of the cooperative project. We built a small town in Xidi and will soon enter the stage of implementation. The second is about the “Tourism + E - commerce”. We cooperated with ShineWing International and Zhejiang Senda to set up a tourism service company. With the registration of this company, it's hoped to build the core business platform integrated with online direct selling, online reservation, hotel revenue management and reservation mode so as to form the expansion of our corresponding contents and effectively combine with the implementation of the electronic commerce. The third is about the “Tourism + Cultural tourism”. We hope to cooperate with our partners in Beijing to explore the combination of secondary consumption products and cultural&creative products. The fourth is about the “Tourism + Sports”. It is difficult to develop sports contents in the center of mountainous sightseeing scenic spots of the Mount Huangshan. As I said in the beginning, we can carry out a series of contents related to the sports in its eastern and western regions and expand to the entire area of the Mount Huangshan. Our strategies of “Mountain, Water, Village and Cave”can form more recombination of sports products with water, cave and large water surface. There are also the connection between a series of other corresponding cooperative projects.
The second aspect is about the brand operation. It's necessary to construct the soft power of the destination. Based on the huge tourism IP, the Mount Huangshan is integrated with the regional brand resources in order to accelerate the construction of national all-for-one tourism demonstration. At present, we focus on the Huangshan Mountain Scenic Spot and have formed a series of products related to the all-for-one brands of the Great Mount Huangshan as shown in the figure. Its brand value has also reached more than 10 billion yuan with strong brand strength. We need to walk down the mountain and conduct more engine projects and play leading roles in the entire scope.
The third aspect is about the empowerment of personality to trigger the perception of the destination. This cartoon image called Xiao Huangzi that have been seen here, is drawn from a species unique to the Mount Huangshan, called Huangshan short tailed macaque. Through the liveliness of this image, we can convey our positive energy characteristics . Setting up such cartoon image can enhance our emotional appeal and perception of triggering the destination.
The fourth aspect is about the content marketing. In terms of content marketing, the best scenic spots also need effective marketing and promotion methods. On the basis of destination improvement, we consider the empowerment of the beautiful scenery of the Mount Huangshan upon the annual marketing plan so as to add IP wings to the beautiful scenery of the Mount Huangshan. We have done the previous marketing works from four aspects and the rich overall marketing plan is still in the process of continuous improvement. First of all, for the research tourism, we hold the Huangshan Research Tourism Festival to promote the creative marketing activities of the research tourism via planning the methods for travelling with books. Meanwhile, we also cooperate with some famous educational institutions to strengthen the situation of research tourism to a certain degree. Secondly, for the IP-based accommodation experience methods, it's dark in the mountainous scenic spots, so some scientific and technological methods for empowerment are needed on the mountain actually. With provision of characteristic modes, tourists in hotel can be provided with value-added services. This year, we did further upgrades and improved the effects of our works and contents through the summer carnivals, outdoor movies, outdoor KTVs, including activities of viewing the night sky on the high mountain and experiencing the cultural collections and chasing stars on the Mount Huangshan. Besides, recently, we also want to integrate some scientific and technological products via the starry night tour so as to carry out a series of exploration on the premise that safety can be solved. Thirdly, for the outdoor aspects on the mountain, a series of actions are combined to enhance the eastern and western region of the mountain and other scenic spots. Finally, for the characteristic customization, we effectively carry out the wedding celebration tourism and the characteristic tourism to form a series of characteristic customization.
From a certain point of view, the walking down and going out of the Mount Huangshan are actually the more effective interaction with each other hopefully. We hope to popularize the IP construction of the beautiful scenery in all areas of the city. Of course, we also hope to interact more effectively with all the guests present and colleagues present. The Huangshan Tourism Development Co.,Ltd. also set up its own fund at present and also hope to interact effectively with you via its methods of the using capital platform and its own listed channels. It's believed that in the future it can reach better cooperation and interaction with everyone present here. Thank you all.
The interactive section
Host: Thank you, Mr. Wei. Then, it is the interactive section. Any questions?
Question: I'm from Guizhou. Fanjing Mountain in Guizhou was rated as the Natural World Heritage. I would like to ask the representative of Mount Fuji, why was the Mount Fuji listed as a culture heritage, not as a natural heritage?
Hirofumi Irikura: Mount Fuji does not particularly meet the requirements for the World Natural Heritage, so it fails to meet the high standard temporarily. First of all, it lacks outstanding universal value in geology and geomorphology. Secondly, Mount Fuji is rich in endangered species, but the habitats of these endangered species are all below the hillside and are seriously affected by human lives. So, the protection of these endangered species is also a problem. That's why it cannot be listed as a natural heritage.
Host: I also can provide you with a bit of answers. On the World Heritage List, there are more than 1,300 items now. 2/3 of them are cultural heritage sites while less than 1/3 are natural heritage sites, and several are both the natural and the cultural heritage sites.
Question: I am a representative from a national park in Tanzania. I would like to ask the representative from Nepal for how you manage human wastes. It is difficult to decompose human wastes at 5000 meters above sea level. I would like to know how you can do environmental protection or environmentally friendly treatment in such high altitude areas.
MadhuSudhan Acharya: As for the problem you just mentioned, it is usually very difficult to deal with in very high altitude areas. At lower altitudes, we usually handle these things. With the increasing altitude, we have no way to use the toilet again and there may be other technical means for the related treatment. If you have some other better practices on your side, you can also communicate with me. I look forward to it very much.
Host: Thanks to this group of distinguished guest for your wonderful speeches.
Next, let's welcome the next group of guest speakers, who are representatives from Brazil, Africa and the United States. Here are the representatives of Brazilian Massif of Itatiaia, the Kilimanjaro and the Rocky Mountain. Please come onto the stage, you three.First of all, let’s welcome the representative of Brazil to make introduction.
Brazil Itatiaia National Park
ICheif of Itatiaia National Park GustavoTomzhinski
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen! I am honored to be here today to introduce our first national park, the Itatiaia National Park, on behalf of Brazil. It was established in 1937 and managed by ICMBio who was a Federal Agency responsible for 335 protected areas accounting for 10% of our territory basically. Located in the area of Rio de Janeiro, the southwest of Brazil and between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, the Itatiaia National Park is three miles away from the road connecting the two cities. About 40 million people take 4 hours from where they live to the National Park by car. Besides, its altitude spans from more than 500 meters to over 2, 000 meters, so we also call it the Agulhas Negras Peak. There are also volcanoes with a history of 2 million years in Itatiaia. The water source is one of the mostly protected. There are 12 water sources and many of them are the sources of rivers that start from our National Park and flow through Argentina and other South American countries. Waterfalls in these national parks make it available for people to watch and swim. We have some very special species here, including 50,000 insects, 60 tailless animals, more than 100 mammals and more than 300 birds, so this is also a good place to watch birds. There are also some rare and even endangered species in this national park and some of them are found in the Itatiaia Mountain. The park can be seen from 2,000 kilometers away, which is very magical. There are many kinds of birds in Itatiaia, so it is a best place in the Latin America to enjoy birds. We have five kinds of monkeys here and one of which is the largest in the American Continent. In addition, there are leopards and very special rock formations. In this valley, we can see that the river flows from the high to the low altitude all the way. This is the Agulhas Negras Peak.
This is another location. We call it Sheldon Peak. This is the Agulhas Negras Plateau and from which you can see the two peaks and a valley I have just described. This is a view from the west and south of the National Park.
Because more and more tourists come to the National Park, it has promoted the local economic development to a certain extent and has also brought many new job opportunities, such as catering, hotels, tour guides, and the production and sales of local featured products. From the valley to the local aboriginal communities, there are also many farming activities. Because of tourism, they can sell their goods at higher prices for trade, and even some aborigines have changed the way they live and turned to the way they earn a living related to tourism.
This bar chart shows that the number of tourists visiting Itatiaia National Park has increased significantly in the past few years, especially those for high altitude areas. Because this country has large area, you can spend a few weeks for tours and there are different kinds such as leisure, adventure and even three-day mountaineering. In order to provide tourists with better services, we also cooperate with the Ministry of Tourism so that private enterprises can invest in the some infrastructures of the National Park. We also build some stores, including accommodation and others. We are intended to carry out the invitation for bids in 2018 and to find new partners hopefully. We are going to invest 17 million Rubles. We will pay it back within 11 years, because its franchise lasts for 25 years.
At last, I would like to extend my thanks to the International Mountain Tourism Alliance for the invitation and to you for your listening. I also invite you to come to Brazil and visit the Itatiaia National Park.
Charles Joseph Ngendo on behalf of Mount Kilimanjaro
Kilimanjaro National park Head of Tourism Department
Hello everyone, I'm Charles Joseph Ngendo! I will share the relevant information with you on behalf of Mount Kilimanjaro. There are many pictures in my PPT which are all about Mount Kilimanjaro.
My introduction today mainly focuses on the following aspects. I will briefly introduce the Mount Kilimanjaro, our scenic spots, products, activities, tourist trends and current strategies for mountain resources protection, as well as the main problems and challenges we are facing with.
Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest in Africa with an altitude of 5875 meters. In 1973, we set up the national park with a total area of 756 square kilometers. The national park was open to tourists in 1977and at that time we started further construction of tourism related to the infrastructure, and it was awarded as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987. In 2005, affiliated forest reserves were also included to the entire national park area, reaching an area of 1688 square kilometers entirely. In 2013, the Mount Kilimanjaro was rated as a Natural Wonder of Africa with a total three peaks. The national park has 2500 species of plants and more than 140 species of mammals and there are more than 50,000 tourists every year.
In Kilimanjaro National Park, there are three tourist attractions and scenic spots, namely, the Kibo Peak, Mawensi Peak and Shira Peak respectively. They have a mountainous forest of 1800 to 2800 meters in total, surrounding the entire mountain area. We have abundant animal resources, including mammals and primates, and also have huge craters, cultural sites and waterfall resources.
We are actively developing the activities related to tourism as well, including mountaineering, mountain cycling , paragliding, crater camping and hiking, plateau visits and crater visits, as well as some commercial shooting activities. The route we usually use for mountain climbing is the red part of the picture, and there are other routes for going up and down from the mountain. The development trend of our consumers and tourists: The number of tourists has decreased from 2013 and 2014 to 2015 and 2016. However, the trend has resumed from 2016 to 2018,reaching more than 50,000 tourists per year.
Related to the whole national park, some nearby communities, are also actively involved in the tourism industry. For example, some domestic tourists will participate in mountaineering actively, and some residents nearby will act as guides or porters. At the same time, they will sell some agricultural products to tourists to earn some incomes, and they will also guide tourists to visit local communities and carry out cultural activities. Meanwhile, they offer the accommodation, such as family accommodation and tourism services, for foreign tourists to create their incomes.
How can we further conserve our mountain resources? Our strategy is the implementation of anti-poaching patrols first. We rely on the establishment of important jobs such as forest rangers to conduct patrols to combat poaching and to ensure that our natural resources will not be destroyed. At the same time, we will collect some intelligence and information about related illegal activities to prevent these things beforehand. Meanwhile, we will carry out education on nature protection near communities, for example, in some nearby communities, we will tell them that they can benefit from our special capitals and funds, that is to say, we have a special fund for community participation and community training. At the same time, we will also guide tourists not to produce so much garbage in the tourism activities, and bring their own garbage out after they brought it in. We can ensure that the corresponding tourism activities are organized in an orderly manner through such measures. The activity of taking out the garbage we said just now, cannot evaluate how many things they are taking while climbing mountains, but we will check what they bring out to ensure that all the garbage they produced during the mountaineering is brought out, so that our mountain environment is very clean and sanitary.
What challenges are we facing now? As the colleague from Nepal mentioned, we have encountered with great difficulties in human waste management. It is very difficult to carry out human waste management in areas over 5000 meters above sea level. At the same time, we still have some other challenges, such as inadequate rescue services, water supply, medical conditions and so on.
At a fixed altitude above sea level, such as over 4000 meters above sea level, water resources are insufficient, so we have some challenges in water supply. As we said just now, rescue services and water resources are what we also need to rely on the community to offer. If the altitude is too high, it will be very difficult to carry out such rescue and medical services.
There are some other challenges, including the difficulty of facility development and how to prevent forest fires and others. Facing with all these challenges and the future, we have taken corresponding measures to solve these difficulties. For example, in the aspect of human waste disposal, we have set up some modern and environmental toilets, such as UCLO toilets or dry toilets. At the same time, we have conducted a lot of scientific researches to see how to dispose of human waste in high altitude areas.
Since we have this problem this challenge, we will set a goal for ourselves, and at the same time we will share our operations and technologies with other partners in this aspect. Meanwhile, we will strengthen the operation and system of taking away garbage to ensure that all garbage brought into the scenic area can be taken out. We will invest in modern rescue services, such as the use of helicopters. At the same time, we will better improve rescue preparation and implementation plans. As for the just mentioned problem of insufficient water supply, we will collect rainwater to ensure adequate water supply in high altitude areas. The rescue plan we mentioned just now needs us to have a very complete plan in advance if we want it to be organized and launched in an orderly way, even if we have no water resources at the highest point. We also have a plan to carry out the corresponding water resources related infrastructure construction.
Mountain lands are very valuable and important resources on the earth. They can offer habitat for our rare and endangered species and protect our biodiversity. Their uniqueness also makes them become potential tourist attractions in the world and they will be the important sources of our national incomes. Therefore, the protection of mountain resources should be the global concern. For the Kilimanjaro National Park, we strongly recommend and support the initiative of the International Mountain Tourism Alliance in mountain protection. Thank you very much, and welcome to Kilimanjaro National Park.
Rocky Mountains
Chairman of International Inbound Travel Association Gary James Schluter
Good afternoon, everyone. I’m Gary James Schulte. I established my current company 32 years ago, which is called Rocky Mountain Tourism Company. It is a travel agency which receives inbound tourists. Now I act as its General Manager. Some time ago I was its owner, but I sold it to one of my employees in 2016 so that I could prepare for my retirement on some day. At the same time, I am on behalf of International Inbound Travel Association (IITA) in USA, which owns over 50 inbound travel suppliers, just like my company, the more than 200 individual members and supporting members. Meanwhile among our association members, there are some Chinese who are running their inbound travel agencies. As the chairman of IITA, I have always been the representative of it in the past three years.
I represent Rocky Mountain in USA today, which is not a specific mountain, but a mountain range instead, extending from Alaska to Mexico. Thus we can say that it contains very large areas, being difficult to delimit simply or specifically. One of its most important peaks is Pikes Peak, with its altitude being over 4,000 meters. And advertisements call it as the peak of America. Though there are highways built along it to the mountain top, most of people still choose to climb up it; there are still races and a vehicle rally race held every other year. At the same time, we become sister cities with other cities with famous mountains through Pikes Peak. For example, the city where Mount Fuji is located and the one where Pikes Peak is located have become sister cities. Currently city travel extends extensively from urban areas to coasts and mountain lands. And now America has realized and gradually enhanced the development of mountain tourism. There are a series of mountain national parks, such as Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, Yellowstone National Park, Glacier National Park, Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, Mt. Rainier National Park, Pukaskwa National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park, Denali National Park in Alaska, and Yosemite National Park in California. It’s expected by us to protect the original ecology of their landscapes to the most extent so that this and next generation can both enjoy their originally beautiful scenes. Local wild animals and plants should also be protected; for they may become extinct early before dozens of years if we don’t do so. At the same time, we should play the role of education to further publicize and educate the beauty and uniqueness of these national parks.
Why the above national parks are built? It’s because, on one hand, we expect to conserve those natural landscapes; on the other hand, tourists of this generation and next one can appreciate such beautiful scenes. Hence our first and key mission is to provide an opportunity for people to enjoy them. In some cases, we need to control tourist number; such as not allowing them to visit concentrating at the same time, which is an objective that can be reached through rational marketing. One way for that is the management of traffic and people. For example, we can manage through shuttle cars and buses and various other methods. IITA, with our members and partners, further develops and conserves mountain tourism. Meanwhile, local government and we together ensure that we can utilize our existing resources to manage the persons who have already travelled in such areas.
Another is a large promotion activity made by Brand USA to publicize a many of its national parks in America. Frankly speaking, IITA doesn’t support such activity fully, because the originally crowded national parks become more crowded. As far as we are concerned, what should be carried out is another type of activity to publicize those state parks or national parks which are not that famous. Though their visitors flow rates are not that high, their scenes are very beautiful; we can enjoy landscapes of many mountains. Actually they are quite similar with those noted national parks, but they just don’t have so many tourists currently.
We can advertise different mountain activities in different states so that tourists can be dispersed, but not concentrated to visit the same national park at the same time. Thus we can provide better travel experience for tourists. We also hope such tourists can truly see, witness and appreciate these splendid sceneries. Many tourists visit such state parks, not only because they want to enjoy such scenes, but also because they want an experience and exploration like camping, drifting, hiking and mountaineering. Nobody doesn’t want to experience such explorations. It is found by me that all the people in this world favor bamboo raft drifting and the cross-country driving of jeeps in mountains. In addition, such tourists want to be close to local people to experience local cultures and mores, which can both attract a large amount of tourists for the whole year. We’ve told such state parks then that didn’t expect the arriving of too many tourists; after all you were not that famous than national parks. Take an example, compared with the Great Wall, the scenic spots in Guizhou Province don’t own more prestige, but people are still willing to travel to Guizhou, because it’s not crowded and can enjoy the same beautiful scenes at the same time.
What should also be done is education. Such places intending to develop or popularize their travel are expected to prepare well to confront differences on cultural conflicts, dietary habits and linguistic codes that might occur during their travel. In particular, as for some tourists who arrive here from far away with much money spent, hoping to get fine travel experience, our association will help such different national and state parks to popularize and educate. Especially local people and tourists should be taught to deal with cultural differences and how to respect local mores and cultures. Sometimes certain local travel companies that are less compliant might violate our rules on their operation, so we hope an initiative on issuing authorization statements for business purposes can be passed. Such statements are expected to be issued in 2019 to ban those illegal travel companies which are not compliant, so more compliant and professional operation of such areas can be protected.
Besides, according to some researches we find that the throng of tourists might be temporary. It’s because more and more Americans now are reaching their ages for retirement that they may want to travel more; what’s more, there are two reasons why many people come to America: one is shopping. And the other one is to appreciate national parks in USA. In addition, we find that the young may spend more time on computers and phones. They get quite familiar with technologies like VR and AR, and they also hope to take some time to be close to the nature in a true sense. Thus we can provide them with such true or even virtual opportunities to witness these beautiful scenes. I believe that the importance of mountain tourism will become more and more prominent. And the growth of mountain economy will be further boosted through mountain tourism, so that local populace can have more choices. Thus sustainable development, conservation and security are the three great purposes of developing the mountain tourism. Our association will continuously devote itself to the conservation of mountain tourism resources and publicize with our international partners through projects like sister cities to further popularize and educate our resources. Who need to be taught are not only tourists, but also local populaces.
Questions&Answers
Host: Thank you, Mr. Gary James Schluter. Anyone here can raise questions if you have.
Question: I’m from New Zealand. I want to ask Mr. Gary James Schluter a question. You just mentioned cultural tourism, especially to experience American indigenous culture and the development of mountain tourism in USA, so can you introduce and explain to us how American aborigines integrate into that? Through establishing companies by themselves, or company employees, tour guides, or inbound wholesalers? I wonder the roles American aborigines play in the whole process.
Gary James Schluter: Many of American aborigines have their own training projects. They also have their own association called “American Indiana and Alaska Travel Association”, among which various tribes of American aborigines are contained. They will carry out trainings so that young people in tribes can be re-familiar with and accept the aborigine cultures of their own tribes. At the same time, American government will give them some financial supports. And my association will provide that from the west of America through various ways or publicize some of them. A many of tourists like walking on Route 66 which extends from Chicago to Los Angeles. That is actually the line of aborigines, so they can experience an original America. We also hope that tourists can experience the original cultures of aborigines through some cultural centers during their walking on this route, so it’s often that tribes are more willing to participate in the development of tourism industry.
Host:Thank for the sharing of the three speaker guests. I have good news to you. We have only the last three speakers. Let’s welcome Mr. Michael John Williams from Table Mountain of South Africa, Mr. Li Jun, the representative from Mount Tai of Shandong Province, China; and Mr. Zhang Quan, the representative of Mount Fanjing in the host province -- Guizhou.
Table Mountain
Operations Manager of Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Co (Pty) Ltd Michael John Williams
I think I can just sit down, but I still want to make a short introduction to you. There are quite rich plant resources in Table Mountain of South Africa; just as mentioned in the video, there are totally over 8,200 plant species in it. At the same time, UNESCO confers the title of “World Natural Resource Heritage Site” to Table Mountain. Owing to that, Cape Town was also endowed with the honor of “Flower Kingdom” in 2000. A large number of technologies are adopted so that the traffic in this area is greatly improved. This mountain erects uprightly on the upper part of Cape Town and climbing Table Mountain is a choice cannot be missed.
The history of Table Mountain is 6 times longer than that of Himalayas, 5 times longer than that of Rocky Mountain, boasting a history of about 260 million years. Cape Town is also known as a globally important port. Ranging from enjoying very beautiful scenes, getting close to the nature, having a walk, or eating in a world-class restaurant, Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company can meet everybody’s needs. This is the reason why over 27 million tourists have been attracted since its opening in 1929. Annually there are more than 1.2 million people visiting Table Mountain; among them, 40% are local people and 60% are foreign tourists. Ticketing is indispensable for our operation and 45% of tickets are sold online. When it is an atrocious weather, our cableway may be closed and there is about 20% of time in the year the cableways are not operable. Our cableways are seasonal, with their peak season being July to April of next year, and slack season being summer. The total time for the whole course of taking cableways is 2 hours.
To improve our service quality, we start to recruit excellent staff, with the number of recruited employees annually being about 250. We will hire employees of each post, from client assistant, technical personnel to environment director and cooker, who will be trained internally by our company.
The entire cableway is operated within world heritage regions and Table Mountain National Park. It is committed to balance the large amount of tourists and conserve the distinctive plant environment where our business site is located. We’ve also passed some international standards on environment management, ISO14001, and the review and certification of South Africa Heritage Environment Grading Company. We also adhere to the Liability Travel Charter of Cape Town City, which was published in 2002. Its objective is to set responsible tourism industry as a quite significant principle and provide a better living environment and better scenic spots for tourists. At the same time we tend to be neutral on carbon emission, which is as well our important achievement on environment protection and carbon emission. Besides, we provide houses with low carbon for the neediest and most fragile communities to counteract our carbon emission.
Meanwhile we’ve made positive contributions to the conservation of Table Mountain and natural and cultural heritages to try out best to mitigate the impact to environment. For example, thousands of tourists accept the traffic way of taking our cableways every year because it can help to reduce emission.
We also provide supports for local communities and suppliers, and continuously develop relationships with the suppliers of South Africa to build a successful, long-term and win-win relation. Currently 95% of our retail commodities are from local suppliers.
As well, we stick to conservation policies on environment to protect the unique environment managed by us. Thus resource management is of vital importance to us. For example, we can send the recycled tableware to special waste management equipment, converting them into fertilizer. Usually we also use some recyclable and compostable tableware so that approximately 10,000 liters of water resource can be saved for washing traditional tableware.
The specially recycled water can be used for flushing the toilets on the mountain. 9 liters of water may be used for traditional flushing, but with technical improvements, one liter less is used per time.
We also realize that every drop of water used on cableways should be utilized repetitiously to the most extent, thus we need to ensure that each drop of that from drain pipes will be treated and transported to the mountain foot through our cable cars at nights.
It’s our great honor to be invited here to share some measures with you. We will continue striving to be a world class scenic spot. We’d like to express our gratitude to IMTA for providing us with such a precious opportunity.
Host: Thank you, Michael John Williams, very much for the introduction . You just mentioned that Table Mountain is also facing a lot of risks. There are more than 190 World Heritage sites around the world, of which a large part are cultural estates; the other parts are the natural heritages of which a large part are in China. When it comes to China, we will invite Mr. Li Jun, the representative of Mount Tai, to make a speech for us.
Mount Tai
Chairman of Taishan Tourism Group Li Jun
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen! I will then quickly lead you to enjoy the beautiful Mount Tai in a relatively short time.
“Mount Tai is towering while all people are shocking". Mount Tai, formerly known as “Dai Zong" and "Dai Shan", is the "head of the five sacred mountains in China" with a total area of 426 square kilometers and its highest Peak of the Jade Emperor Peak is 1545 meters above sea level, standing squarely in the East against the sky. Mount Tai integrates historic culture, natural splendor, and geological landscape harmoniously with great tolerance. Since ancient times, it has been regarded as a symbol of stability of empire, consolidation of political power, prosperity of the nation and unity of nationality, a microcosm of Chinese historic culture and a symbol of the Chinese national spirit, and a universally recognized sacred mountain, holy mountain and national mountain. Mount Tai is the first of world natural and cultural double heritage, the global geological park, the first batch of national civilized resort district and AAAAA Tourist Attractions in China and the first famous Chinese calligraphy mountain.
With the constant efforts of Mount Tai Scenic Spot and the supports of all sectors of society, 5.648 million tourists visited the scenic spot in 2017, and Mount Tai tourism has achieved high-level records for consecutive years.
The ancients said, “History of human cannot be earlier than that of Mount Tai". Mount Tai is one of the main birthplaces of Chinese culture and the home of the souls of Chinese descendants. The 72 prehistoric monarchs and the 12 feudal monarchs since the Qin Dynasty have successively ascended Mount Tai to hold the pilgrimages and offer sacrifices, leaving Mount Tai with supreme dignity. The coexistence and integrative development of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in Mount Tai has enabled Mount Tai to have a wide influence and compatibility beyond any religion. Among the many famous mountains in China, only the “Dongyue Temple has influenced nationwide".
Mount Tai is also a natural museum of cultural relics, ancient architecture, calligraphy art and natural ecology. At present, there are 26 well-preserved ancient buildings, 58 temples, 128 ancient ruins, 1239 stone tablets and more than 1800 cliff steles. Mount Tai was formed in the Archaeozoic era of 2.8 billion years ago and is the only area of komatiite of great importance in scientific value in studying Proterozoic geological structures, magmatic activities and plate tectonics in eastern China at present. Its special geographical and climatic conditions have formed various climate, hydrology and vegetation landscapes, such as rising sun, the Sunset Glow, the Golden Belt along the Yellow River, the Sea of Clouds, the Plunging Waterfall of Cloud Bridge and misty rime in winter.
In recent years, a large number of new tourist attractions and tourism projects have been continuously developed, and the ancient Mount Tai has once again been rejuvenated. This is our live performance of "Chinese Sacrifice Offering Ceremony in Mount Tai", which is themed on the demonstration of the historical background of mountain climbing and Sacrifice Offering to Heaven by the emperors of Qin, Han, Tang, Song and Qing dynasties. Three cultural tourism products such as "Mount Tai Dongyue Temple Fair"," Mount Tai Champion" series of mountaineering contests and the "China Mount Tai Coming-of-age ceremony" have deepened Chinese culture and revealed its connotation, perfectly combining tourism with culture and sports, thus increasing its charm and attraction.
We have designed and introduced a new pattern of " one main body with two wings" tourism routes: Middle-Road A: "Mount Tai Champion" mountaineering One-day Tour, " Chinese Mount Tai Coming-of-age ceremony" One-day Tour, Dai Temple-Jade Emperor Peak“Climbing Mount Tai to Pray for Peace" One-day Tour; East Road B: “ Visit the Old Millennial Road to Watch Sacrifice Offering Ceremony" One-day tour of Qin Dynasty's Imperial Road; West Road C: “Colored Stone River" One-day Tour integrating geology, science popularization, fish viewing, dabbling, flower appreciation and snow enjoyment. Colored Stone River is the third route of Mount Tai and the most beautiful route of Mount Tai. It is an important part of Mount Tai's world cultural and natural heritage and world geological park, located between 200m and 780m above sea level at the western foothill of Mount Tai Scenic Spot with a total area of about 32 square kilometers and starts from Peach Blossom Valley to The Peach Garden. Its Scenic Area has a forest coverage rate of more than 85 %, which is known as “Mount Tai Forest Museum" and " Mount Tai Small Jiangnan " and is a scenic resort of leisure and sightseeing in Tai Mount. When people walk along the road, the winding path leads to the enchanting view and the steps are paved with rocks, all form in harmony and naturally.
The Colored Stone River Scenic Area is unique in landscapes of natural and geological relics and rich in ecological resources, and has typical aesthetic, scientific and ecological values throughout China and all over the world. Red Squama Fish are the rare and unique wild species in Mount Tai and they are one of China's top five rare freshwater fish and the only freshwater fish under key protection in Shandong Province. At present, watching Red Squama Fish has become the highlight of the trip. We hold the “Red Squama Fish Proliferation and Release" activities in Colored Stone River Dragon Bay every year.
In order to facilitate the tourists’ sightseeing, a wooden trestle and a natural stone walkway have been built in the scenic spot, forming a landscape of “water flowing above the stone and stone walking under the water".
This is Bifeng Temple on the north side of Color Stone River, which houses three Buddha statues of “Three Saints of Hua-Yen".
In recent years, Mount Tai scenic spot has launched a half-mountain touring line of Color Stone River according to local conditions, carefully planning such activities as " visiting flowers to enjoy the moon in spring" and "the love in Color-Stone River", which highlights the characteristics of Color Stone River such as " seeing flowers in spring, enjoying water in summer, viewing leaves in autumn and admiring snow in winter".
Painting integrates into the water, and the water flows on the painting. In the pumice flat of nearly 10,000 square meters, streams and colored stones mingle like a natural painting scroll which is rich in color and full of illusions and dreams. Roaming among them, people can appreciate the sights of nature, feel relaxed and happy and linger into the beauty.
Climb Mount Tai to pray for peace. Mount Tai is the totem of our nation, the promise of peace and the guarantee of security. No matter when and where, every Chinese descendant can feel the power from Mount Tai and hear its blessings of peace.
This is the official QR code of our Mount Tai Scenic Area. You can scan the code to add attention for better understanding of latest news of Mount Tai Scenic Area at any time.
Thank you!
Mount Fanjing
Chairman of Guizhou Sante Fanjingshan Tourism Development Co., Ltd. Zhang Quan
Good afternoon everyone! I am entrusted by the Municipal Commission of Tourism Development to report to you about the development of Mount Fanjing eco-tourism. The company I serve is engaged in the investment and operation of the tourism industry in Mount Fanjing by means of franchise.
Mount Fanjing is located in the eastern part of Guizhou and is the main peak of Wuling Mountains. On July 4 this year, we were just rated as the world natural heritage by UNESCO and China's 53rd world heritage. Mount Fanjing is also a member of the 10th United Nations Man and the Biosphere Reserve Zone. We are also the first nature reserve in China, who is applying for the World Geopark and National 5A Scenic Spot. Mount Fanjing and its surrounding communities are highly related to other blocks. For example, a national wetland park and a provincial scenic spot are located nearby.
From the perspective of world heritage application and evaluation, Mount Fanjing is a resource complex integrating resourceful biological ecology, geology and culture. We focus on five elements: it is a treasure house of genes, its biology is diverse, and there are about 6000 kinds of animals and plants living in Mount Fanjing, 60 kinds of I-Class and II- Class animals and plants protected by the state，including Guizhou golden monkeys; with biodiversity as the core, it integrates the surrounding mountains,waters and forests to construct its own unique ecological home represented by a diversified forest. Mount Fanjing, as far as geological research, dated back to geological relics as early as 1.4 billion years ago, is also the oldest terrace in southern China. There have been Buddhist relics in Mount Fanjing since the Yuan Dynasty. And there are a large number of Tujia, Miao and Dong ethnic groups living around Mount Fanjing. It is also a meeting place for Chinese ethnic minorities, many of which have cultural fragments dating back to 2000 BC.
From the perspective of eco - tourism, we should refine the core values of the ecological resources of Mount Fanjing. After refining, eco-tourism should revolve around the core value. Therefore, we think that the ecological value of the mount mainly has three aspects: first, biodiversity; second, geological rarity; third, the unique ecological system represented by mountains and forests. Focused on these three characteristics, we can start from a series of traditional tourism products including leisure products and holiday products.
About these three characteristics, we believe that the elements that carry the whole eco-tourism are these five things: geological habits, mountain-water systems, forest vegetation, unique mountain meteorological traits, and wild animals and plants.
We will share with you how we have developed the eco-tourism of Mount Fanjing in the past 10 years.
Because Mount Fanjing is the earliest nature reserve zone in China, our government has formulated a series of laws and regulations around the zone. On this basis, Guizhou Province and Tongren city have also formulated special laws and regulations for ecologically sensitive areas in Guizhou Province, including Mount Fanjing, which has laid a legal foundation for the orderly and sustainable development of eco-tourism with protection as its core.
At the same time, we believe that in the entire process of promoting eco - tourism, we should handle the five relations which have been condensed into a five-in-one plan: Firstly, put protection of ecological resources and protection of Fanjing as first. Secondly, the community around the Mountain can be said to be the poorest area in China. Therefore, the development of ecological tourism in Mountain must be in harmony with the community, so that the community can first enjoy the dividend of ecological tourism development. Thirdly, the development of Mount Fanjing tourism should also promote the development of local economy. Fourthly, the development of eco-tourism needs to meet the increasingly fragmented demand of the huge Chinese tourism market. Fifthly, many tourism practitioners and operators should also enjoy its due bonus in the process of eco-tourism development. Only by properly handling these five aspects can we truly realize the sustainable development of the entire eco - tourism.
Focused on the planning, construction, operation management and marketing of eco - tourism, I think it should be different with the traditional sightseeing tour, or should be based on the core concept of infinite closeness to nature and real simple. From the perspective of product planning, product construction and product operation, we should provide tourists with a soothing and slow-paced tour route. All our tour facilities should be low - key, small - volume, or even fragmented, and you should truly integrate into the natural environment, and truly establish a high degree of co-ownership with the community culture, the community's lifestyles and the ways of working. Another is that you can adjust and optimize your products and services in a timely manner according to changes in the environment and the market. What is our goal? Our goal is to create a sustainable international eco-tourism destination of the combination of products, business format and markets.
What is product combination? It is to take eco-tourism as the core of our tourism product supply, which covers sightseeing products, leisure products and holiday products. What is market combination? We should not only meet the needs of far-end of China and even our international guests (this year we began to have a large number of Southeast Asian and Russian guests), but also meet the needs of domestic guests, which should be a combined tourist destination of surrounding tour and long-distance travel.
Next, let me report some of the things we have done over the years in eco-tourism and promoting communities to get rid of poverty and achieve prosperity.
Mount Fanjing is a new commercial tourist attraction. It is a very young mountain tourist attraction in China. Our tourism has started in 2009. Over the past 10 years, the total tourism of Mount Fanjing has been developing continuously. The number of tourists this year can reach 1.2 million to 1.3 million, while the number of tourists in the year when we opened was less than 10,000.
Focused on eco - tourism, first of all, the infrastructure of tourism has been continuously optimized and improved from scratch. We have built our own World Heritage Exhibition Center, and many small museums, outdoor classrooms and some nodes and service spaces in the nature reserve zone to provide eco - education for tourists. We are the first eco-tourism demonstration base in China. We have built a complete guide system for eco-education and research, including a large number of online and offline eco-education textbooks and books, within the 40 km tour line from 500 meters to 2300 meters above sea level.
In addition to these investments in hardware, we have also done a lot of things in the marketing of the theme , in the push of ecological education of the theme, including activities with NGO. Over the past 10 years, we have promoted and publicized the theme of ecology in the national media more than 3000 times. We have cooperated with an independent studio, for the first time we have taken photo for the main protection object of Mount Fanjing— Guizhou golden monkey, we spent more than three years to shoot such a documentary, which is equivalent to the discovery channel of a wildlife documentary, and it has also been broadcast on our national television station.We have also established normal cooperation with international NGOs and research organizations. Why? Because the main protection target of Mount Fanjing is Guizhou golden monkeys, there are merely 740 monkeys in the world, which only live on the 567 square kilometers of ecological island of Mount Fanjing. Besides, we have many years of cooperation with university of San Diego, which is the world's leader in primate behavioral research. In addition, we also cooperate with many NGOs, including ZSL and WWF.
Every year, we have about a dozen of activities themed around eco-tourism and eco-propaganda. These activities are attracting tourists, especially the activities of this little green guard in the lower left corner. This is what we do together with the University of San Diego every year to encourage the children in the community to cultivate the awareness of protecting the environment and the ecology from an early age.
Focused on the normalized products of eco-tourism, we feel that we should first build up the mechanisms and platforms for the development and promotion of eco-tourism products. First of all, our protected area and scenic spot can be the platform. We have quality ecological resources and eco-tourism infrastructure and service systems, but we are willing to keep an open attitude towards cooperating with all domestic and foreign research institutions, educational institutions and NGO, including all domestic and foreign travel agencies, distributors and OTA to jointly develop and push our products out. So now we are also starting to form a regular half-day tour, and even this year we have launched a six-day special ecological product with Mount Fanjing as its core to drive the surrounding communities for six days and five nights.
In addition to seasonal deployment and launch of ecological products, it is more important to use the eco-tourism products of Mount Fanjing to promote other themed eco-tourism, research tourism, and science popularization education in 12 counties and cities around Mount Fanjing, including history, religion, and revolution tour in China.
Since the development of tourism in Mount Fanjing, we have consciously put eco-tourism and into the community when planning, leaving all the low-end and middle-end services of Mount Fanjing tourism products. In the past 10 years, people in the entire community around Mount Fanjing have cast off poverty and become better-off, a very remarkable achievement has been formed. Our original poverty population in Jiangkou County was 93,000 in 2011, and has dropped to only 30,000 this year, which is a very significant change. There are about 2,000 tourism products around us, most of which are run by the common people in the community, including hotels, restaurants and small transportation facilities, as well as some minority ethnic businesses, including some performing products. We have helped 100,000 people change their traditional working ways and lifestyles, and they have obtained their own path of sustainable development in the future with a dignified and dedicated achievements or channels in the tourism service industry.
We have created more than 500 jobs in the reserve zone and in the peak season every year we are in the need of about 800 employees, 97 % to 98 % of who are the three surrounding counties. For example, the young man in the upper right corner of the screen is born as an orphan with disability, but he is a talented painter. We invited him to the culture creativity department of our company. There he picked up pebbles in the river and drew some beautiful patterns on it, which was welcomed by many tourists. The following middle-aged man was originally a carrier of sedan chairs on Mount Fanjing, that is, Mount Fanjing had no cable cars in the past, the local people could carry tourists up in sedan chairs. Although he only accepted the education of the elementary school, we recruited him to the company and continuously trained him. He has now become a cable car operator and also passed the qualification test of national cable car equipment management and operation. Taking the two men as examples, we can learn that such things can be found everywhere in our entire scenic area.
Welcome to Mount Fanjing. We also believe that in the future development of Mount Fanjing tourism, we will adhere to the principle of “Five-in-One” and stick to put environmental and ecological protection as first.Mount Fanjing has a daily environmental capacity of 10,500 people. Since the opening in 2009 until today, the daily reception volume has not exceeded 10,500. Even in the surge of tourists after the success of this year’s application of World Heritage Sites, we have still maintained such a capacity, and from now on Mount Fanjing has begun to sold all the tickets all over the Internet, and tourists have to enter our scenic spots through the identification system. We hope to arrange tourists’ time reasonably through the online reservation system without waiting on the mountain. The other is to help the common people in our community to get rid of poverty for thousands of years, so that they can find dignified lifestyles. At the same time, our eco-tourism should also promote local economic development. China is the world's largest tourism market. In addition to its large scale, Chinese tourists' demands for consumption are also more and more subdivided and diversified, including more and more extensive interests, hobbies and demands for eco - tourism, research tourism, mountain tourism, religious tourism and agricultural tourism. We need to make future-oriented products to meet their diversified and subdivided market requirements. In addition, our enterprises, including 2000 small and micro enterprises engaged in tourism services in our community, also hope to achieve the benefits we should get in the development of tourism. Only by handling these relationships can we promote the sustainable development of eco-tourists in Mount Fanjing.
Finally, on behalf of Mount Fanjing and Guizhou, I also welcome you to Mount Fanjing. Thank you.
Questions&Answers
Host: Thank you Mr. Zhang Quan for the introduction. Any questions you want to ask are for the last three speakers.
Question: I am a representative from Scotland. I think everyone's reports are very interesting because we talked about some interesting points, such as how young people can enter the city, and how we can keep young people in the local area to support local development. I would like to ask how we do this in this regard.
Host: who do you want to take the question?
Question: President Zhang of Mount Fanjing.
Zhang Quan: As I mentioned in the report just now, for example, the disabled man who painted on stones is only 18 years old this year, and the average age of the staff in our scenic area is 24 to 25 years old. Your question is particularly typical in China's mountain scenic spots. Mountain scenic spots in China are usually in poor areas of China. A large number of local young people do not have good chances of education. When they grow up, they will go to the city to do some manual-labor jobs in the urban areas. How can we keep our young men in the village? To change the pattern of the local tourism service industry in this area where the Mount is located, from nonexistence to pass into existence and from simplicity to systematization, in this process, the common people in the community will be allowed to come back for employment first, and he will reap the benefits through employment, and then he will know how to improve his service skills and management ability in the process of getting benefits, and slowly he will enjoy the bonus of tourism, and he will spontaneously choose his way of employment and even upgrade his training, for example, the man who just operated the cable-way, he studied for himself, then he tried to study in school and passed the exam. So the most direct way, I think, is to use tourism to drive the local economy quickly, and young people in the community will return to the community voluntarily and spontaneously.
Host: Thanks to the last three speakers. This is our first “Dialogue among Famous Mountains in the World”. I believe this forum of the International Mountain Tourism Alliance will be better next year and do more forms of dialogues, so that everyone can share experience with us.
Here, I also want to invite all the speakers and guests of this afternoon to take a photo with us.
