The Second General Assembly of the International Mountain Tourism Alliance was successfully held by video conference on December 27, 2022. At the meeting, Vice President and Secretary-General He Yafei reported the key points of 2023 work of IMTA and asked all members for their opinions on the work of IMTA, which received positive responses from some members at home and abroad. After the meeting, some members put forward valuable opinions and suggestions on the construction and development of IMTA in written form, and expressed their willingness to keep close exchanges and cooperation.
As a founding member of IMTA, the former Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization, Mr. Francesco Francalli, has always been very concerned about the Alliance and offered suggestions for the development of IMTA. In his letter, he hoped that the nature, membership and activities of IMTA would be more international and diversified, and he hoped to seek more support from the central government, especially the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, which is in charge of the Alliance. He suggested that attention should be paid to skiing and winter sports, which are the most important parts of mountain tourism in the world. He suggested that the leadership of the Alliance should pay attention to increasing the size and diversity of members in this field, and carry out exchanges and cooperation with western Europe and north America and other regions. Mountain tourism faces the challenge of global warming in the coming years and the Alliance should aim to understand and assess the changes taking place and develop strategies to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of rising temperatures on mountain tourism.
International Nordic Walking Association(INWA) is a new board member, President Aki personally replied to the secretariat, he said that nordic walking in the field of outdoor activities has great potential, and this sport is a year-round activity, suitable for countries and regions around the world, there is a good opportunity for the development of mountain tourism: The first is to take advantage of the mountain environment to develop walking trails with sticks, including the provision of a safe environment and trained instructors; The second is to hold pole walking competitions. By holding competitions to let more people know about walking and participate in it.
Wuliwusha, the director general of the Japan-China Friendship Photographers Association, proposed three ideas for the cooperation activities: First, before the 2023 annual meeting of IMTA, they plan to invite top photographers from Japan to Guizhou Province to collect photography, and hold the photography exhibition on "Guizhou Ethnic Customs under the lens of Japanese Photographers" in Guiyang; The second is to hold a photography exhibition in conjunction with the annual meeting of IMTA, which can collect a variety of biodiversity and mountain photography works from around the world in Japan; Third, their association is willing to cooperate with IMTA to hold an activity in Japan to promote Chinese mountain tourism.
Eraj, head of Mountaineering & Tourism Base Artuch, LLC, said that 93% of Tajikistan's total area is located in mountainous areas, including the Turkistan, Zerav, Gizar and Alai Mountains. The whole eastern part of the country is located on the Pamir Plateau, which is rich in mountainous natural beauty and cultural heritage. At the same time, in recent years, the government of Tajikistan has paid special attention to the tourism sector, and policies such as the opening of visa-free entry and the simplification of entry visa submission have resulted in an increase in the number of tourists. In response to the government's call, ARTUCH Mountaineering tourism is willing to make further efforts and take measures for the development of tourism. It is hoped that Tajikistan will become one of the important and key partners of the Union in the near future and requests that the Union, as appropriate, consider establishing a foreign representative office of the Union in Tajikistan.
Guizhou Baili Azalea Tourism Group mentioned in its reply that the company built Baili Azalea Tiaohuapo Slope scenic spot with mountain, sports and health as the theme from 2018 to 2022. As one of the few tourism products with mountain sports products as the brand in the province at present, this scenic spot has the ability to hold large-scale events and topic forums, and is also qualified to become the experience base of the alliance. We also hope to use Baili Azalea as the venue for the next annual meeting of IMTA and other activities.
Polyclinic Terme Selce, Croatia suggested that due to the impact of COVID-19 in recent years, the company's daily operation and technological update costs have increased, and it hopes to offer a reduction in membership fees. They also indicated that they would be willing to help if the Alliance needed to contact other institutions in Croatia or to carry out professional exchanges in the field of the Polyclinic Terme Selce.
The secretariat of IMTA will carefully study and sincerely absorb the opinions and suggestions put forward by members, and explore the possibility of cooperation with IMTA in combination with its development plan. The concern and support of alliance members is the inexhaustible driving force for the alliance to develop continuously. In 2023, IMTA will stand at a "new starting point", follow the purpose of the alliance, always adhere to the basic positioning of an international organization and the professional positioning of mountain tourism, gather the strength of members and industry, and promote the optimization and innovation of the alliance platform system with high quality. At the same time, IMTA will make every effort to serve the members and the industry well, give full play to the wisdom and human resources of the members, establish a more leading international cooperation and sharing mechanism, and make efforts to build IMTA into a famous platform for promoting the development of mountain tourism in the world.
