Editor’s Note

On 29 May, the 2022 International Mountain Tourism Day theme event was held online and themed on “Mountain Tourism Promotes Healthy Life and Cultural Exchange”. The event motivated the New Media network, connected IMTA members, destination agencies, enterprises, and experts from all over the world, and carried out “cloud communication, dialogue, and presentation” around three chapters — “Focus · Mountain”, “Health · Life”, and “Civilization · Communication”. Against the complex global landscape and threat from COVID-19, the event helps create a healthier and more positive atmosphere and market for mountain tourism, promote cultural exchange, friendly communication, and mutual integration among countries, to jointly prepare, build, and share a bright future of mountain tourism. At the event, Shao Qiwei, Vice Chairman of IMTA, delivered a speech.

Jointly Preparing, Building and Sharing a Bright Future for Mountain Tourism

Dear IMTA members and colleagues. It is my great pleasure to gather with you online on the special occasion of the "International Mountain Tourism Day" on May 29th. In 2018, the "International Mountain Tourism Day" was officially launched by International Mountain Tourism Alliance. Its launch marked the establishment of a new platform for international cooperation and exchanges of the IMTA. Combining the background of the times and the development trend of global tourism the IMTA has persisted in holding tourism day theme activities every year. It has been working hard to explore a new trend, pattern and practice approach for the development of international mountain tourism under new historical conditions which have had positive impacts on the international tourism industry.

Under the intertwined background of the complex pandemic world situations and the continued downturn of the global tourism industry, the holding of the "2022 International Mountain Tourism Day" event with the theme of "Mountain Tourism Promotes Healthy Life and Culture Exchange" will strengthen our confidence to respond to the impact of the crisis, help us create a positive and healthy mountain tourism mode and market atmosphere, encourage culture exchange between countries and regions enhance friendly exchanges and mutual integration and promote a shared future of mountain tourism based on mutual discussion and collaboration.

According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in 2021, the number of global tourists increased slightly by 4% compared with 2020, but was still 72% lower than that of the pre-pandemic period of 2019. In terms of the tourism revenue global tourism revenue increased from US$1.6 trillion in 2020 to US$1.9 trillion in 2021but was still well below the US$3.5 trillion in 2019.

It can be judged that it will take a long time for the global tourism industry to recover and develop. Under the repeated pandemic rebound and the complex and ever-changing international situations there are two steps that we should take to respond to the emerging difficulties and challenges. On the one hand, we should advocate and support the international community to adopt effective policies and measures to help the tourism industry and enterprises get out of the predicament. On the other hand, we must strengthen our confidence, make a difference and prepare for post-pandemic recovery and development in multiple ways.

According to the development law of tourism the sustainable development of the tourism industry is inevitable, while people's demand for tourism consumption continues to grow. I believe that under the comprehensive effect of new changes, new patterns new systems and new technologies, the tourism industry will find a new development path in the future. To this end, it is my suggestion that the tourism industry and related parties should learn early, deploy early, and prepare early.

First, we should continue to strengthen our policy support for market entities. As an important industry of the national economy, tourism is a pillar industry in many countries and regions and plays an important role in economic and social development. The issue of employment or unemployment within the industry is enough to attract the attention of the whole society. (According to UNWTO statistics in 2020 and 2021 the total unemployment in the global tourism industry reached a total of 185 million people equivalent to the combined population of Japan and the United Kingdom)

Of course, it is foreseeable that after the pandemic the tourism industry will take the lead in a rapid recovery and rebound. However, how to help market entities survive the pandemic and maintain their strength after the pandemic are the issues that we need to pay attention to right now. UNWTO and various international tourism organizations should continue to call on governments and corresponding institutions, around the globe to continuously increase their efforts to solve difficulties, and provide support for tourism companies International tourism organizations should also play their governance role and provide action guidance for market entities. Although many policies have been issued by the Chinese government and the governments of many countries and regions, they are still far from enough considering the predicament of the tourism industry.

Second, we should reflect on the shortcomings and deficiencies of tourism. In today's world, the development environment of tourism is undergoing profound changes and it is urgent to re-examine the traditional way of tourism development. The current predicament of the tourism industry is mainly due to the superposition of multiple impacts of the pandemic but there are also structural problems. The development of the tourism industry emphasizes quantity over quality and construction over management. It also has the problems of paying too much attention to the number of customers, being too dependent on the ticket economy, being too single formed, being lack of talents and having low risk resistance ability these have been the pain points of the tourism industry.

To solve these problems, we should seize the special opportunity of the moment to take decisive actions comprehensively reflect on the system and mechanism planning and design, business model, marketing model, insurance system, talent training, crisis management methods and travel modes and to make changes and seek innovations in order to survive the management departments, working institutions, enterprises, practitioners of tourism and related industries should make concerted efforts to enhance the forward-looking, and anti-risk capabilities of the tourism industry while empowering, developing and showing their abilities.

Third, we should give full play to the role of mountain tourism in the post-pandemic tourism recovery. From a global perspective, people's yearning for free activities, outdoor activities and multi-modal tourism activities has become stronger after the pandemic. Recently, the sales of RVs in the United States hit a new high and "camping" in China has become a most popular word on the holiday network. Mountain tourism-based outdoor tourism nature sightseeing tours and countryside tourism have become the hot spots and new trends of tourism.

Mountain tourism is likely to become an important engine for post-pandemic tourism recovery. From this, we can foresee the current and future trends in the development of the international tourism industry and tourism consumption. Mountain tourism is a tourism activity that relies on the natural human and ecological environment of the mountains. It is also one of the ideal ways to enjoy a healthy life. Mountain tourism will definitely play a leading role in the reshaping of the tourism industry. As a tourism genre that integrates mountain sightseeing leisure vacation, mountain climbing, wild adventure, tourism and entertainment and humanistic education it can also boost cultural exchanges. Therefore, mountain tourism should advocate cultural exchanges the protection of the ecological environment and a healthy lifestyle. It should also give full play to the important role of tourism in cultural dissemination achieve mutual promoting effects between culture and tourism and integrate cultural connotations into the whole process of mountain tourism development

Adhering to the concept of “Mountain Tourism Promotes Healthy Life and Cultural Exchange”, the IMTA keeps being open and inclusive pursues for win-win cooperation and give full play to its role as an international tourism organization by actively participating in the reform and construction of the global tourism governance system and the promotion of the development of global tourism. At the same time, it works together with other international organizations relevant institutions and enterprises to expand external exchanges strengthen cooperation and communication and strive to contribute to the sustainable development of mountain tourism.