On November 17th-19th, the 2020 International Mountain Tourism Alliance Annual Conference opened in Guiyang. The Conference is concentrated on the theme of "The Path of Mountain Tourism Development in the Post-COVID World". During the annual conference, the participants focused on this major topic, and discuss depth in how to promote the revitalization and quality of mountain tourism after the pandemic, and provide thoughts guidance and practice support for global mountain tourism management and promotion of global tourism industry.
This Annual Conference is hosted by the International Mountain Tourism Alliance. UNWTO, WTTC, PATA, GTEF, WTA, WTCF, ASEAN-China Centre, WCCO and other well-know international organizations and associations provided powerful support.
The Address on the 2020"Dialogue among Famous Mountains in the World"
He Yafei，IMTA Secretary-General
Very happy to speak at 2020 Dialogue Among Famous Mountains in the World. It is timely to talk about the future prospects on sustainable mountain tourism, especially in this time of covid-19 which has brought untold suffering to global tourism including mountain tourism with huge losses in income and job opportunities.
I will briefly elaborate on the following 3 points:
1. Post-covid tourism calls for new ideas, new models and new services in tourist sector all over the world as tourists will be more mindful of healthy and eco-friendly tourist destinations and services. It is therefore imperative for tourism and associated sectors to be able to provide innovative ideas of tourist attractions and services while making sure that there will be no health risks in their tour packages. Public health contingency plans are must haves. This is in essence a tourist supply-side revolution which needs a great deal of research on what tourists really want.
2. Famous mountains across the world are the crystallization of the local cultures which will help incoming tourists from other regions and countries to broaden their minds and be more tolerant of other cultures through unique tourist/cultural experiences they will be immersed during stay in the famous mountain. For example, in China, famous mountains usually are the sites of religious origin in the form of renowned Buddhist or Taoist Temples.
Most minority nationalities reside in mountains with their cultural identity being kept intact over centuries which again provides for singular and rich cultural and even religious experiences. When people are searching for ways to communicate among different cultures, there is almost no better ways than mountain tourism in general and famous mountain tourism in particular.
3. Famous mountains are the best places to create Mountain Tourism plus platforms for the revitalization of tourism after covid-19 fades away, including MT+Health, MT+sports, MT+caring for the aged.
