Enjoy the Wonder of Mountains, Share the Beauty of Life, Revitalize the Tourism Industry——Overview of “International Mountain Tourism Day 2023” theme events
"International Mountain Tourism Day 2023" theme events themed on "Enjoy the Wonder of Mountains, Share the Beauty of Life, Revitalize the Tourism Industry" kicked off in Vientiane of Laos on 29 May. As the reshaping of world tourism picked up speed, the events grasped the great opportunities brought by regional economic cooperation, encouraged Asian countries and regions, and led tourism destination administrations, market entities, tourism institutes, and IMTA members to face the new challenges in the mountain tourism sector, explore the tourism patterns oriented by new consumer needs, jointly facilitate the full recovering and customer interaction of the global tourism market, and probe into the construction and development of mountain tourism governance system. The events have become China's first major theme event held overseas and aimed at promoting post-pandemic tourism recovery, and have drawn close attention and positive feedback from the world tourism sector.
I Background
1. Overview
"International Mountain Tourism Day 2023" theme events were organized by the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism of Laos (MICT), International Mountain Tourism Alliance (IMTA), Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), and Global Tourism Economy Forum (GTEF), supported by Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China, World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), ASEAN-China Center (ACC), China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNIE), World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), and World Tourism Alliance (WTA), and co-organized by Guizhou Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and Foreign Affairs Office. Tourism-related organization and enterprise representatives, experts, scholars, and media workers from international organizations, IMTA members, Laos, and many other countries gathered together. Guests, from various perspectives, offered insights on mountain tourism cooperation within the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) framework, tourism recovery, and consumption trends, utilization of traditional handicrafts and mountain tourism resources, market reboot and innovation in promotion patterns, and mountain B&B and leisure business structure, drawing the attention of the entire world tourism sector.
To prepare for the events, IMTA leaders attached great importance. Vice Chairman and Secretary-General Mr. He Yafei raised clear claims to make sure of the quality and influence of the events. Vice Chairman and Executive Secretary-General Mr. Fu Yingchun organized all IMTA Secretariat staff to carefully and elaborately prepare all procedures, including choosing the host city, setting the event theme, designing topics and contents, and inviting guests. With the pooled strength and support, they successfully reached all the goals and targets.
The launching ceremony of "International Mountain Tourism Day 2023" theme events and theme forum on "Enjoy the Wonder of Mountains, Share the Beauty of Life, Revitalize the Tourism Industry" held on the morning of 29 May proposed new judgment and thoughts on the construction and development of new-stage mountain tourism under new circumstances. Asian Mountain Tourism Promotion Conference held in the afternoon explored patterns and ways to deal with the changing consumption trends, supply innovation, and market development in 2023 – the year of tourism reshaping, and to promote new business patterns and paths of mountain tourism governance as well as products that lead the new consumer demands. World-famous Mountains Recommendation — Exhibition of Asian Mountain Tourism Photography & Traditional Folk Handicraft covered natural views, historical sites, and intangible cultural heritages centered on Asian natural heritages and famous tourism mountains, showcased the marvelous and magnificent mountain tourism resources, and profuse traditional folk handicrafts and cultural and creative products of China and Laos.
To build the "International Mountain Tourism Day" theme events into a platform for strengthening global exchange and jointly discussing, building and sharing the reshaping of mountain tourism in the post-COVID world, supporting events were also held alongside. In detail, on 30 May, the "Mountain B&B Cooperative Exchange" was held in Luang Prabang of Laos. Culture and tourism organizations in Laos, reputed B&B business entities in China, and association representatives gathered and had a seminar on "Special local B&B drives the industrialization of mountain tourism" and "High-quality operation and management of mountain B&B." On 1 June, the "Mountain Tourism Exchange" was held in Bali of Indonesia. IMTA delegation, Batur UNESCO Global Geopark (IMTA member), tourism enterprises and associations, and hotel associations in Bali discussed "Market reshaping and membership building of island-type mountain tourism destinations." On 3 June, the "Mountain Tourism Market Interactive Exchange" was held in Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia. IMTA delegation, Mr. Lu Guoxiang, President of Malaysia-China Chamber of Commerce (MCCC), Mr. Bao Yixiong, President of Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association (MCTA), Chairman Youssef and Vice Chairman Xiao Yuguang of Malaysian Association of Tour & Travel Agencies (MATTA), Mr. Su Mingde – council member of Malaysian Inbound Chinese Association (MICA), and other association leaders, as well as representatives of Malaysian tourism associations, tourism enterprises, and media, attended the Exchange, to discuss the new consumer demands in the post-pandemic tourism market, paths to reboot tourism in Asia-Pacific, and explore methods for Guizhou Province and Malaysia to recover their interaction in the tourism market as soon as possible.
In the meantime, at Tourism Plus Shanghai on 29 May, organizers and IMTA were present at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (NECC) Shanghai, to celebrate the special festival of "International Mountain Tourism Day," targeted at building G318 into a world-class mountain tourism destination, to demonstrate the charm of mountains and the beauty of mountain life.
2. Scale
Over 250 guests from 16 countries, including representatives of reputed international tourism organizations, tourism enterprises, market entities, think tanks, media, IMTA members, departments of news, culture and tourism in Laos, and ambassadors and envoys in Laos were present.
At the opening ceremony, Mr. Ounethouang Khaophanh – Vice Minister of MICT, Mr. Fu Yingchun – Vice Chairman and Executive Secretary-General of IMTA, Mr. Peter Semone – President of PATA, and Ms. Pansy Ho – Vice Chairwoman and Secretary General of GTEF delivered online and offline speeches on behalf of the organizers; Mr. Zhu Shanzhong – UNWTO Ambassador for Tourism, Mr. Shi Zhongjun – Secretary General of ACC, and Mr. Dou Enyong – Vice President of CNIE delivered speeches on behalf of the supporters. At the theme forum, Mr. Francesco Frangialli – former Secretary General of UNWTO, Ms. Franka Gulin – European Travel Commission China Chapter Chairwoman, Mr. Jin Zhun – Secretary-General of the Tourism Research Center, Chinese Academy of Social Science, Ms. Emma Chen – Global Vice President of Internationale Organisation Für Volkskunst (IOV), and Mr. Song Liguo – General Manager of Strategic Cooperation Department of Trip.com Group delivered keynote speeches titled “Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Development of Mountain Tourism,” “Changes and Responses to Supply and Demand in the Global Mountain Tourism Market,” “Mountain Tourism Cooperation and Development under RCEP Framework,” “Heritage and Resource Utilization of Mountain Folk Handicrafts,” and “Empowering Mountain Tourism for an Exciting Journey” respectively.
MICT attached great importance to the events. Mr. Ounethouang Khaophanh – Vice Minister of MICT, led Ms. Phengchanh Phengmeuang – Director of the Department of Planning and International Cooperation, MICT, Ms. Darany Phommavongsa – Director General of Tourism Management Department, MICT, and Ms. Manisakhone Thammavongxay – Deputy Director of Public Relations Division, Tourism Marketing Department, MICT, as well as the directors of culture and tourism departments of 18 cities and provinces in Laos participated in. In addition, Mr. Phouvong Vongkhamsao – Deputy Mayor of Vientiane, Mr. Xu Peng – Vice Chair of WTA, Mr. Zhang Xilong – former First Class Counsel at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China, Mr. Inthy Deuansavanh – member of Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LNCCI), Mr. Goto Satoshi – Vice President of the Asian Union of Spelegology, Mr. Edi Irwan Mahmud – Malaysian Ambassador to Vietnam, and representatives of embassies of China, Brunei, Indonesia, Korea, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam to Laos were present, to jointly discuss the supply, market development, and solutions of mountain tourism facing new opportunities.
3. Feedback
The year 2023 marks the reshaping of the tourism industry. The "International Mountain Tourism Day" was held on 29 May, a critical time when the global tourism market keeps opening up and China reboots outbound tourism. IMTA grasped the opportunity, reached a consensus, pooled strength, built up confidence, and pioneered in China in holding major theme events overseas as an international organization. It was a proactive project that facilitates the opening and cooperation of the global tourism market, and the clear theme, profuse content, advanced concepts, and interaction have been highly regarded and praised by the leaders, guests, and media present, and have won extensive attention and positive feedback from all walks of life.
The profuse contents and profound significance of the events left a deep impression on all the guests. Vice Minister Ounethouang Khaophanh mentioned that right now, world tourism is recovering from the pandemic hit, and the China-Laos Railway is, many hold, a major engine for multilateral tourism, as the railway connecting Laos and Kunming of China offers more transport options for two peoples. Railway is becoming an economic tie that bridges China and its surrounding areas, an engine that drives the economy, and an attraction to more and more local and international tourists. Laos, as a result, gets more geared toward the international community and becomes a tourism destination. This year's "International Mountain Tourism Day" theme events are a major event aimed at promoting the development of tourism. The success of the events will advertise the "Year of Visit in Laos" in 2024. We hope the events would attract tourists from all over the world to come to Laos to enjoy the local natural, cultural, and historical views and sites.
Mr. Fu Yingchun, Vice Chairman and Executive Secretary-General of IMTA, said in the speech that the events will center around the recovery plan of mountain tourism with the theme and multiple topics, propose constructive and forward-looking judgment and ideas for the innovation and regional development of mountain tourism in the new stage from several perspectives, which is a collision of tourism intelligence under the special background in the important time at the beautiful place, as well as the collaboration that reshapes the tourism market. The "Wonder of Mountains" carries infinite value and brings an incredible future to tourism. And mountain tourism, with the characteristics of being close to nature, pursuing healthiness, and being environmentally friendly, stimulates consumption potential and gives strong support to the service quality while responding to the development trend of ecological tourism by the structural optimization of the tourism supply chain. As tourism is reshaped at a rapid speed and mountain tourism is becoming a symbol of a healthy lifestyle, we must take the road of ecological priority and green low-carbon development, conserve the ecosystem where humans and nature co-exist in harmony, build a system of "Amity, Sincerity, Mutual Benefit, Inclusiveness" based on civilization, mutual learning and sharing, to increase the value of mountain tourism resource utilization and the possibility of meeting new consumer demands, and help demonstrate and release the intrinsic uniqueness and the ever-unfolding futurism of mountain tourism.
"We must consider the close relationship between the sustainable development of the local economy and mountain tourism. We are noticing that the tourism sector is turning to sustainable development, environmental influence, and culture and heritage protection. In particular, many mountain communities are on the path towards sustainable development, to solve the problem of environmental degradation and underdevelopment," said Mr. Peter Semone, Chairman of PATA, in his speech, “stakeholders need to think about development issues in a more inclusive, sustainable and adaptable manner. By highlighting the sustainable development of mountain tourism, we can distribute the benefits from tourism to the local communities more evenly, and better protect the local natural resources and cultural heritages to provide residents with a better life.”
"Mountain tourism is gaining popularity worldwide, accounting for one-fifth of the global tourism sector. In China, mountain tourism has been on the rise and is expected to ramp up tourism recovery in the post-pandemic era. Part of its success lies in its engagement of the local communities in the planning and management aspects, which ensures that local needs are taken into consideration. The Chinese government has been always maintaining a balance between environmental conservation and green tourism, as it believes protecting the ecological environment is in itself benefiting the economy." Ms. Pansy Ho, Vice Chairwoman and Secretary General of GTEF, gave the events high recognition and expectations in the speech. The International Mountain Tourism Day on May 29th is a tribute to our precious environment and unique heritages. Thank you all for your keen participation today. Your professionalism and insights will be an impetus for the "high-quality development" of mountain tourism and a sustainable future.
Mr. Liu Wei, Head of the Myanmar-China Culture and Tourism Promotion Society, said that the events were a grand success, and each target for the topics has been reached. After getting the report of the events, the Minister of Hotels & Tourism Myanmar said: We hope we could invite IMTA to hold events in Myanmar, and the central government, ministries and departments will give the utmost support. Ms. Emma Chen, Global Vice President of IOV, thanked IMTA for opening up a shared space from an international perspective, enabling different countries and nations to jointly share the essence and content of mountain culture. Mr. Goto Satoshi, Vice President of the Asian Union of Spelegology, said the forum and promotion conference contained interesting content, and he learned about more mountain tourism resources in Asia.
Both domestic and overseas media made thorough reports on the events. A dozen of authoritative media, including Lao National Television, Lao National Radio, Passasson, and Vientiane Times covered and advertised the events in various forms. Ms. Wu Xiaoli, Deputy Director and anchor of Phoenix TV News, sent her video wishes. As of 9 June, a total of 1209 media, live streaming platforms, and social websites across the globe covered the events, and published 11 versions of reports – English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Thai, and China (simplified and traditional), covering over 1.8 billion of viewers. In China, more than 700 reports were released with over 55 million views. China's national news platforms, including CULTURAL&TOURISM, xuexi.cn, Baidu, and Toutiao initiated the “International Mountain Tourism Day 2023" column, and a large number of people submitted articles, commented, and forwarded them. The CULTURAL&TOURISM App made 30 publications, including videos, images, and text on experts and entrepreneurs in the field of mountain tourism, and reports on mountain tourism from multiple angles to further advertise for the events, with 32 million views. In the meantime, new media platforms like Weibo and Douyin published hot topics on mountain tourism and gained enormous popularity online. The topic #InternationalMountainTourismDay# gained a total of 4.472 million views on Weibo, and 21 clips released on Douyin were played 2.51 million times.
II Features and achievements
1. Clear theme, forward-looking perspective, profuse contents
Themed "Enjoy the Wonder of Mountains, Share the Beauty of Life, Revitalize the Tourism Industry," the events focused on the reshaping and governance of post-pandemic tourism, with a clear theme, forward-looking perspective, and profuse content. Guests proposed constructive and forward-looking judgments and ideas and injected new inspiration and motivation into the sustainable development of world mountain tourism.
(1) Enhancing global exchange and regional cooperation
As the tourism sector is steadily recovering and revitalizing, guests reached a consensus of enhancing cooperation and sharing experiences on development.
“Strengthening international cooperation will be inevitable for tourism revitalization,” said Mr. Fu Yingchun, Vice Chairman and Executive Secretary-General of IMTA, in the speech. Many options are available for regional cooperation in tourism, such as the "Belt and Road" initiative, RCEP, Mekong-Lancang Cooperation, ASEAN cooperative dialogue, China-Laos Railway, and the construction of the Greater Bay Area. Relying on these major regional cooperation initiatives, the tourism industry characterized by promoting consumer and economic flows with people flows will discover its opportunities and entry points, and find the application and carrier of joint discussion, construction, and sharing. In addition, the events were aimed at empowering the tourism industry to carry out multi-disciplinary and cross-city cooperation as well as providing intellectual and practical support to promote the interaction of international markets.
According to Mr. Dou Enyong, Vice President of CNIE, as the world tourism is reshaping, CNIE looks forward to helping IMTA and tourism organizations to "go global," promoting the full recovery, opening, and interaction of the tourism market, building a high-standard, high-quality and high-level China-Laos community of shared future, and trying our best to keep connecting peoples all over the world.
Mr. Shi Zhongjun, Secretary General of ACC, said in the speech that in the post-pandemic era, ASEAN countries and China are shouldering great responsibilities to accelerate regional economic recovery and advance sustainable development. To this end, ACC is willing to work closely with parties like IMTA to brand and promote mountain tourism and to better play the important role of tourism in improving people’s well-being and ecological environment, serving to strengthen people-to-people ties, and contributing to the continued building of the ASEAN-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
Ms. Franka Gulin, European Travel Commission China Chapter Chairwoman, said in the keynote speech that we need to all engage in more cooperation like this and carefully listen to what every side can say to properly navigate changes in supply and demand in the mountain tourism sector. Open and honest dialogue with the exchange of information is one of the first steps in our search for ways to navigate new trends while honoring what nature gifted to us. The events provide a great opportunity to engage in meaningful communication to set a good example for future practices.
At the events, the organizers released Vientiane Consensus on Promoting Tourism Revitalization for a Better Future - "International Mountain Tourism Day 2023," calling to establish diversified partnership mechanisms and communication platforms in an equal, open, and inclusive manner, strive to keep driving the mutual-learning among civilizations and the progress of the mountain tourism sector, to jointly explore ideas, methods, and paths of mountain tourism governance system under new circumstances.
(2) Grasping the opportunities
The "International Mountain Tourism Day 2023" theme events held on 29 May are a major event that meets the national policies and the international political landscape, a response to the opportunities brought by RCEP and the operation of China-Laos Railway international passenger train, significant in promoting the exchange, interaction, and cooperation among RCEP member countries, and the interaction between Chinese and Lao passengers and the full opening of the Lao tourism market.
The events included RCEP and international partnerships in mountain tourism in its forum topics. Mr. Jin Zhun, Secretary-General of the Tourism Research Center, Chinese Academy of Social Science, made a keynote titled "Mountain Tourism Cooperation and Development under RCEP Framework," and probed into new patterns for tourism development. Thanks to the opportunity provided by RCEP, the single largest global mountain tourism economic community is taking place with international tourism destinations and corridors as support. Countries in the network should join hands to channel more impetus from economic and trade development into the tourism industry and lead Asia-Pacific tourism and economy towards a new form of development through open cooperation and sustainable development. For that, the Chinese Academy of Social Science would release a research report within the year together with IMTA.
China-Laos Railway came into operation on 13 April, breaking through the bottleneck of the Pan-Asia railway economic circle. As RCEP comes into effect, tourism along the Lancang-Mekong Corridor is accelerating and transforming into a world-class tourism corridor. China-Laos Railway hugely increased the number of inbound and outbound Lao tourists. Many guests present visited Laos by China-Laos Railway, and were awed by the "Wonder of Mountains" along the way. The Lao scenic areas along the way gained more popularity and greatly promoted the full recovery of the economy, tourism, and society of Laos. Mr. Anongdeth Phetkaysone, Vice General Manager of Laos-China Railway Company Limited, introduced at the Asian Mountain Tourism Promotion Conference that the China-Laos Railway passes many historical sites of Laos, bringing huge tourism revenue for Laos, and connects the domestic transportation of both countries into an economic artery, especially driving the culture and tourism exchange between the two countries.
Mountain B&B, as an emerging industry, is full of vigor. The Mountain B&B Cooperative Exchange was held in Luang Prabang of Laos, and IMTA organized a seminar for outstanding representatives of the B&B industry and culture and tourism departments from China and Laos. The Chinese delegation took the China-Laos Railway to Laos, enjoyed the convenience and took in the status quo of mountain tourism in Laos, shared the business environment, investment policies, and the operation of local B&B industry in the seminar, laying a foundation for domestic and overseas investment and the development of mountain B&B in the future.
"China-Laos Railway will restructure the traffic and transportation of Laos, a land-locked country, speed up the local economy, further connect provinces, and lower the cost of goods shipped via Laos to China." Guests unanimously agreed that China-Laos Railway is significant in accelerating the construction of the Pan-Asia Railway, connecting the facilities of countries along the "Belt and Road," and enhancing partnership between China and ASEAN countries.
(3) Upholding the theme of the times to promote mountain tourism development
After three years of the pandemic, mountain tourism, as a healthy lifestyle, gets more popular, and diversified mountain tourism products are favored and welcomed by tourists. Mountain tourism is destined to be the bellwether of tourism revitalization.
Mr. Fu Yingchun, Vice Chairman and Executive Secretary-General of IMTA, pointed out, “As the global market keeps opening and the number of tourists keeps increasing, there is no doubt that tourism is now steadily recovering and revitalizing. Against such backdrop, the innate uniqueness and developing future of mountain tourism will play a catalytic role in activating consumer demand and boosting industry confidence.” Mr. Zhu Shanzhong, UNWTO Ambassador for Tourism, highly regarded the significant role that mountain tourism plays in leading the sustainable development of tourism, “let us celebrate not only the incredible beauty of our world's mountains but also their potential to lead us towards a brighter, more sustainable future in tourism. Thank you all for your commitment, your passion, and your dedication. Your efforts are making a profound difference." Mr. Francesco Frangialli, former Secretary General of UNWTO, said in the keynote speech, “This understanding of the nature of sustainability was put forward by the Portland Report for the UN in 1986, then adopted by the UN family in 1992, in the RIO Conference, as submitted with the Agenda 21 and Framework Convention on Climate Change. And then, in 2002, ten years later, tourism was put into the picture by UNWTO in the book submitted. Sustainability is the keyword to maintain tourism."
Traditional handicraft constitutes the diversity of mountain tourism, the pillar of local tourism income, and critical in promoting the sustainable development of mountain tourism. The Traditional Folk Handicraft Exhibition demonstrated the profuse traditional intangible handicrafts and cultural and creative products of China and Laos, enhancing cultural exchange. Ms. Emma Chen, Global Vice President of IOV, made a speech titled "Heritage and Resource Utilization of Mountain Folk Handicrafts" in the theme forum, and proposed many original ideas and opinions with referential significance on the sustainable development of traditional mountain handicrafts.
Ms. Li Xia, Director of the Information Management Department of China Culture and Media Group, Executive Director and General Manager of CCMIT, said in her speech, “This year, Culture & Tourism China launched Metaverse Culture Cabins that can quickly respond to tourists' demand for new technology. By using immersive technological interpretation, it tells the stories of local culture and showcases scenery from a novel perspective, greatly improving the operational capabilities of mountain tourism.” Mr. Song Liguo, General Manager of the Strategic Cooperation Department of Trip.com Group, introduced how Trip.com Group effectively empowers the development of mountain tourism in three aspects: new scenarios, new concepts, and new driving forces. "Through rural revitalization, we tap into the key scenarios of mountain tourism, and expand the inventory space for rural tourism; With LESS, our sustainable tourism program, we promote new concepts like nature conservation and ecological protection; Through the Tourism Revitalization Plan A, we carry out brand marketing for destinations, optimize the structure of cultural and tourism industry, and empower the sustainable development of mountain tourism."
2. Achievements of the supporting events
(1) Asian Mountain Tourism Promotion Conference
After holding the first "Asian Mountain Tourism Promotion Conference" in Guiyang City with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China and Guizhou Provincial People's Government, IMTA held the "Asian Mountain Tourism Promotion Conference 2023" in Laos as a supporting event for "International Mountain Tourism Day 2023" theme events, as a response to the opportunity of the recovering market. The Conference gathered representatives of renowned mountain tourism organizations and enterprises, and directors of provincial departments of culture and tourism in Laos to explore patterns and ways to deal with the changing consumption trends, supply innovation, and market development, and to promote new business patterns and products that lead the new consumer demands.
Asia boasts a long history, colorful cultures, profuse and diversified resources and products of mountain tourism. Laos, as an Asian country that bridges the neighboring countries along the Mekong River, also enjoys abundant natural resources. Minister Ounethouang Khaophanh said in his speech: “The year 2024 is the Lao Tourism Year, and our government will try its best to advertise for the tourism industry. I believe IMTA will provide more opportunities for the international community to jointly discuss, develop, and drive the fast recovery and sustainable development of tourism, especially mountain tourism.” In the eyes of Mr. Fu Yingchun, mountain tourism is an engine with great potential and prospects for the Asian economy. "Promoting world tourism, especially mountain tourism, to make it an important engine to help recover Asian and global economy, stabilize employment, reduce poverty, facilitate communication and cooperation among cultures and civilizations, is a major goal of Asian Mountain Tourism Promotion Conference." In addition, Ms. Maribel Rodriguez, Senior Vice President of WTTC, highlighted in her speech: "Congratulations to the fifth International Mountain Tourism Day! The tourism industry represents excellence, wealth, and strength. I hope we could continue to march ahead, travel around, get to know more people, and serve more tourists."
Ms. Manisakhone Thammavongxay, Deputy Director of the Public Relations Division, Tourism Marketing Department, MICT, illustrated the status quo of Laos to embrace modernized ecological tourism from six aspects – tourism policies, concept and goal of mountain tourism, Lao landform and terrain, status quo of mountain tourism in Laos, edges and scenic spots of mountain tourism, and future development and plan for Laos. Mr. Anongdeth Phetkaysone, Vice General Manager of Laos-China Railway Company Limited, introduced the operation of the China-Laos Railway since coming into operation in 2022, and the important influence and changes it brought to the socioeconomic development and tourism progress of Laos. Mr. Serge Koening, a member of the IMTA Expert Committee and an international mountain tourism expert, introduced the status quo of mountain tourism in Chamonix at the foot of Mont Blanc in the French Alps and highlighted the imperative need to anticipate the mountains of tomorrow. Ms. Li Xia, Director of the Information Management Department of China Culture and Media Group, Executive Director and General Manager of CCMIT, stated her visions on the new development opportunities of mountain tourism from three aspects – the nature and advantages of the resources that mountain tourism relies on, the forms of mountain tourism developed by using these advantages, and the corresponding groups. Ms. Wen Weiya, IMTA Secretary-General Assistant, introduced the beautiful landscapes, everlasting clear water, colorful cultures, and pleasant climate in Guizhou province, a "Mountain Park," and invited tourists around the world to Guizhou for admiring the majestic mountain scenery, experiencing the passionate outdoor sports, appreciating the colorful mountain landscapes, feeling the mountain coziness of recreation and enjoying the policy dividends of investment. Mr. Liu Wei, Head of the Myanmar-China Culture and Tourism Promotion Society, introduced the natural landscapes that make visitors linger, the long-lasting and brilliant Buddhist culture, historical sites and relics, and the simple and peaceable customs of Myanmar. Mr. Inthy Deuansavanh, Chairman of Green Discovery, highlighted that they try their best to live peacefully with residents and the balanced development of tourism economy and local life, in the hope of providing high-quality advertisement and services to attract more visitors for mountain tourism in Laos.
(2) Exchange
During the events, IMTA held exchanges in Luang Prabang of Laos, Bali of Indonesia, and Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia, with local IMTA members, tourism organizations and enterprises, and mainstream media. The exchange included mountain tourism seminars, business visits, and field visits, highly and extensively welcomed by the local tourism industries. The exchanges further built the platform and brand of IMTA, strengthened the ties between IMTA and its members and the tourism industry, and promoted the exchange and cooperation in mountain tourism.
Through the International Mountain Tourism Day 2023 sub-exchange events in Laos, Indonesia, and Malaysia, we invited tourism organizations and enterprises, experts and scholars, and media workers to attend the exchanges, to further enhance regional exchange and cooperation in Asian mountain tourism, build a high-quality platform for government-enterprise-research partnership, facilitate the supply-demand balance of projects, talents, and funds, empower the tourism industry to carry out multi-disciplinary and cross-city cooperation as well as provide intellectual and practical support to promote the interaction of international markets.
During the visit to Indonesia, the IMTA delegation and Mr. Gobang Sucipto, executive officer at Batur UNESCO Global Geopark, had an in-depth conversation on the status quo of mountain tourism in Bali and reached a consensus of protecting the Earth and nature and promoting the prosperity and cooperation in mountainous communities, and IMTA would pool its strength as a platform to enhance partnership in advertising and branding. During the visit to Malaysia, the delegation visited MCCC, the largest chamber of commerce in Malaysia, and other enterprises like Pearl Holiday (M) Travel & Tour, and had an in-depth conversation on jointly exploring methods and paths towards the recovery of the global tourism market, probed into the problems and solutions of tourism supply and marketing under new circumstances. In general, the exchanges provided new ideas and motivations for the recovery and sustainable development of Asian mountain tourism and exerted a positive influence on the revitalization of mountain tourism and the opening of the market.
3. Major achievements
(1) A practice of IMTA mission. IMTA's mission of "Guided by the goal of sustainable tourism, the IMTA seeks to protect mountain resources, preserve mountain civilization, and promote mountain economy to the benefit of the people living in mountainous regions" has been tested by time and put into practice. The profundity and originality have been recognized by IMTA members, international tourism organizations, and the mountain tourism industry. Guided by this mission, IMTA serves as a bridge that links world tourism. The theme and content of the events are another successful practice of the mission.
(2) An endeavor to consolidate the IMTA platform. “International Mountain Tourism Day” is a platform for member cooperation and exchange initiated by IMTA in 2018. For five years, the annual “International Mountain Tourism Day” theme events have been widely accepted and highly regarded by IMTA members and the global mountain tourism sector with clear and time-oriented themes and practical contents. This year marks the reshaping of world tourism. The theme "Revitalize the Tourism Industry" manifests the theme of the time, points the direction ahead, and highlights teamwork, echoed among participants, the tourism industry, and media workers. Organizations and countries like Myanmar expressed their hopes of jointly holding the "International Mountain Tourism Day" theme events with IMTA next year, to carry out exchanges and cooperation, and built the events into a platform of joint discussion, construction, and sharing that promotes the sustainable development of world tourism.
(3) A new starting point for cooperation and exchange. IMTA took the opportunity and released the latest data and trends of Chinese and international tourism with Trip.com, published "International Mountain Tourism Cooperation based on RCEP Framework" as RCEP comes into effect with the Chinese Academy of Social Science, and proposed ideas and solutions for tourism to fit in and help regional cooperation and development. The operation of the China-Laos Railway opens new channels for China's outbound tourism. For that, the railway department made a thorough introduction to the benefits it brings and explored how the railway helps to expand cultural and tourism exchange and cooperation. On behalf of the organizers, IMTA Deputy Secretary-General released Vientiane Consensus on Promoting Tourism Revitalization for a Better Future - "International Mountain Tourism Day 2023," pointing out directions and thoughts on post-pandemic tourism reshaping and governance. Guests, based on the construction of new tourism destinations in Laos and other ASEAN countries, explored how to implement more convenient inbound tourism policies, how to make tourism operations more professional, and how to develop innovative tourism products in the new era, and discussed the utilization of folk art resources and the digitalization of marketing. Additionally, we organized representatives of Chinese B&B associations and B&B operators in Laos to have a seminar on special B&B cooperation. We had in-depth conversations with the tourism association in Malaysia on market interaction strategies, new business patterns, tourist visas, the convenience of routes and airlines, how to provide services targeted at various living habits, and other hot topics, in a bid to reach a consensus.
(4) An opportunity to tell the China Story and an innovation of national diplomacy. "5.29 International Mountain Tourism Day," as a fixed festive day, was held at a critical time of recovering tourism in the post-COVID world, and it was China's national strategy to take this opportunity for global exchange and cooperation. Therefore, supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China and Guizhou Province, IMTA leaders made full preparations and orderly implementations from theme to content, major events to support events for the events in Laos. This year's theme was highly praised by all the guests, and the topics managed to be highly demanding, leading, and globalized. In particular, MICT organized the "Night at Laos" which represents the relationship between China and Laos. The local songs and dances pushed the dinner to its climax, and guests had in-depth conversations about their future business partnership in a cozy and relaxed manner. Directors of culture and tourism departments of provinces in Laos traveled from afar to attend the dinner and appreciated this special opportunity and life experience to exchange with and learn from each other, and they hoped to participate in more events like it. The whole event received full support and positive feedback from the co-organizer, MICT. IMTA and MICT reached multiple consensuses on their future partnership. The minister said that they will send delegations to attend the International Mountain Tourism & Outdoor Sports Conference, IMTA Annual Conference, and Dialogue among Famous Mountains in the World 2023 held in Xingyi City of Guizhou Province in September. They looked forward to working with IMTA in other fields and invited IMTA to train the culture and tourism departments in the development concept and sustainable governance of mountain tourism. Minister of Hotels & Tourism Myanmar also hoped to jointly hold mountain tourism theme events with IMTA next year.
(5) An interaction that drives development in Guizhou Province. The events included effective interactions between IMTA and Guizhou Province. To be specific, IMTA carried out major events, supporting events, and exchanges with Lao officials, introduced the tourism and cultural resources and the business environment of Guizhou from various angles, and won positive feedback and inspired guests to come to Guizhou to visit the local mountain resources and conduct extensive business exchanges with the local tourism sector. Via the events, Laos hoped to facilitate the construction of airlines directly from Vientiane to Guiyang City in Guizhou, and the special tourism train of "Guizhou of China – Vientiane of Laos." Chairman Youssef of MATTA also hoped to work with IMTA to build direct airlines between Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia and Guiyang City.
At the World-famous Mountains Recommendation — Exhibition of Asian Mountain Tourism Photography & Traditional Folk Handicraft, traditional folk handicrafts of Guizhou (Miao embroidery, batik, and silver jewelry) and Laos were presented in Vientiane of Laos. Many guests liked the handicrafts and stopped to appreciate and learn about the production process and the culture of ethnic groups in Guizhou. The Exhibition served as a window for Lao people and guests to deepen their understanding of Guizhou Province.
