Dominique de Villepin: in a new development pattern, mountain tourism will undoubtedly lead the way in the new round of tourism development

Editor's Note: On September 15, The "International Mountain Tourism Alliance (IMTA) Annual Conference and Dialogue among World Famous Mountain 2023" opened in Xingyi City, Guizhou Province. Gathering over 200 participants, including IMTA members, renowned international organizations, relevant national cultural and tourism departments, leaders and officials from Guizhou Province, professional tourism organizations and enterprises, world-famous mountain and mountain tourism destination institutions, media and other esteemed guests. The Conference was themed with "Mountain Tourism Resource Innovation and Destination Construction." Simultaneously, the Dialogue among World Famous Mountain explored the theme "World Famous Mountains Empower the Wellness of Mountain Tourism." Discussions revolved around cutting-edge strategies for mountain resource protection, innovative utilization, and development, fostering an inclusive and collaborative atmosphere.

Dominique de Villepin, Chairman of the International Mountain Tourism Alliance (IMTA) presented at the Annual Conference and delivered a speech.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,

It is a great pleasure to meet with you again after many years in the beautiful Xingyi, Guizhou, the birthplace of the International Mountain Tourism Alliance (IMTA), to participate in the 2023 IMTA Annual Conference, and to talk with members of the Alliance and friends in the industry about the new trends and new patterns of the development of mountain tourism in the context of the new era.

2023 is the year of reshaping the global tourism industry. Recently, major tourist markets, including China, have shown signs of accelerated recovery. The number of international tourists on all continents has rebounded significantly, with strong recovery trends in countries in Europe, America, and the Middle East. The "2023 World Tourism Barometer" released by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) predicts that the number of international tourists in 2023 may recover to 80% -95% of the pre-2019 level.

However, when we see the favorable tourism market, we cannot ignore the complexity of the current economic situation and the uncertainty it brings to the tourism market. The difficulty in the recovery of the world tourism industry is much greater than the periods of economic stabilization. Different countries and regions will be faced with different degrees and types of environmental complexities, demonstrating diverse coping abilities, and thus resulting in unique tourism development patterns. In addition, geopolitical tensions have brought numerous uncertainties, and factors such as climate change, energy crises, and natural disasters have also increased negative risks. These objective impacts cannot be ignored.

The recovery of the tourism industry is not a simple recovery, but a reshaping. With the changes in consumer behavior and trends, it is foreseeable that the post-pandemic recovery of the tourism industry will be characterized by a rational transformation from quantity orientation to quality orientation. The reshaping of the tourism industry relies on global industry cooperation and the further enhancement of the tourism governance capacity of all countries, and the innovative adjustments in tourism policies and governance systems will effectively promote the quality development of the world tourism industry in the new development period.

Against the backdrop of the global tourism industry entering a new development pattern, mountain tourism, with its unique natural environment and the best aggregation of diversified cultural resources and its integration ability, will undoubtedly lead the way in the new round of tourism development. Especially driven by the pursuit of green and healthy consumption psychology, mountain tourism will unleash unprecedented market potential in terms of population size, consumption upgrading, subject transformation, or industrial integration and innovation. As mountain tourism resources diversify with market demand changes, actively promoting resource innovation is a significant topic for mountain tourism, which is related to the recognition of mountain tourism resources, the construction of resource utilization systems, the tourism format, and the levels of destination construction. Only by market-oriented promotion of innovative development in mountain tourism resource utilization can we create an future-oriented and appealing tourism destination.

Today's annual conference of the International Mountain Tourism Alliance is the first offline event since the Alliance changed its term last year, which is of great significance, because all the directors, members and special guests gather together to jointly plan sustainable governance and innovative development of mountain tourism in the context of the new era, focusing on the theme of "mountain tourism resource innovation and destination construction", and jointly explore innovative development strategies for the protection, utilization, beautification and construction of mountain resources to jointly build a healthy and high-quality life that caters to new consumer needs.

Today, tourism is not only a way of leisure, but also an important carrier of friendship and people-to-people exchanges. It is an effective avenue for interpersonal communication acting as a bridge and a bond in fostering mutual understanding among civilizations and advancing peaceful development.

The International Mountain Tourism Alliance (IMTA) has entered its second term since its official establishment in 2017. Over the past six years, the Alliance has firmly adhered to its own purpose: to protect mountain resources, to inherit mountain civilization, to promote the mountain economy, to benefit mountain people, and to commit itself to the development of sustainable mountain tourism. It is precisely under the impetus of this core concept that the Alliance has always adhered to the path of ecological priority and green development, the path of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, the path of tourism benefiting people's livelihood and well-being, and focused on obtaining the test results from practice, laying a relatively solid foundation. The Alliance has achieved remarkable results in theoretical exploration, platform operation, brand building and mechanism innovation, and has constructed a solid platform operation system through the construction of its own brands such as the Alliance's annual conference, theme forums, International Mountain Tourism Day, Dialogue among Famous Mountains in the World, and the Asian Mountain Tourism Promotion Conference, which provide strong support for serving the members, influencing the industry, and sharing the results of the development of the international mountain tourism industry. It can be said that through unremitting efforts, the visibility, credibility and influence of the International Mountain Tourism Alliance has made great progress, and the Alliance has won the praise of the business management, the initiators of the Alliance and the industry with its excellent performance.

We still have a long way to go, and we will face new opportunities and challenges. We need to adhere to the goal of sustainable and high-quality development. In a complex and ever-changing environment, the Alliance should highlight the advantages of its own professional organization, actively carry out mountain tourism business contacts and cooperation exchanges with different countries, activate tourism consumption willingness around the world through rich activity platforms, and guide tourists to integrate into healthier, safer, ecological, and immersive mountain tourism experiences. Gather more people in the industry to contribute to the cooperation of mountain tourism industry. We also need to mobilize the cooperation enthusiasm of related institutions, academic circles, industries and destinations, organize think tanks and experts to carry out professional research in the field of mountain tourism, and jointly release valuable mountain tourism statistics, industry forecasts, trend forecasts, and professional reports.

We expect that in the new stage of development, the IMTA will continue to build a better platform for international exchanges and cooperation in mountain tourism, a research platform for the development of mountain tourism, create more new theories, standards and methods for the development of mountain tourism, and better serve its members, the industry and play an important role in the governance of global mountain tourism. The Alliance has made significant progress in its six years of operation, and I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Guizhou Province, the initiator of the Alliance, for the quality resources you have provided to the Alliance, which has given it the strength to be pioneering and innovative, and I believe that the areas of interaction and cooperation between the Alliance and Guizhou will continue to expand and achieve new results. I would also like to congratulate and thank all colleagues in the Secretariat of the Alliance for the efforts they have made for the innovative development of the Alliance over the years and for the excellent results they have achieved! Thank you all!

Editor Ⅲ: Liu Guosong

Editor Ⅱ: Wu Dan

Editor Ⅰ: Zhang Wenwen