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.

Good morning!

The topic I am talking about today is The International Significance of Chinese Experience in the COVID-19 Era. This conference mentioned the “post-pandemic world” which only could be called in China  and it should be called the “regular COVID-19 Era” in other parts of the world. This means that we are facing a long-term situation, not a short-term one. According to China's experience, no one can copy the approach to coping with the pandemic, but only find the way out on one's own account. I think China's practices are of great significance, especially in the field of mountain tourism.

I. Virus Knows No Borders. We Are a Community with a Shared Future 

(1) N Stages of the COVID-19

1. Pandemic Situation in China

From the discovery of Novel Coronavirus to the outbreak of the pandemic, and then to the timely decision-making given by the central government, China has concentrated its national strength and the efforts of the whole people to pull through the difficulties. The resumption of work and production has started in full swing, and the economy has recovered.

According to China's practices, national will and national strength are the basis of all power. On this point, China is indeed in the forefront.

As for China's experience, the whole people are united in exploring and correcting. It is not impossible for China to take detours either, because even a slight mistake will be corrected immediately, which lies in China's institutional confidence and institutional advantages.

2. Pandemic Situation in the World

At present, there have been more than 53 million confirmed cases and more than 1.3 million death cases worldwide, and the figures are still increasing. The concept of "a community with a shared future for mankind" is fully supported from another angle.

3. Stages of Development

Each country has different stages of development, different levels of public health and public services, and different governance systems, which means that the uncertainty of the pandemic situation is intensified.

The number of imported cases has increased, so we have to lay equal emphasis on preventing imported and exported cases. Under the background of globalization, Chinese people are all over the world. How to conduct local prevent and control and how to return home are all challenges. If the world spread is the first stage, the interweaving influence is the second stage and even the N stage.

The whole world faces the pandemic situation together. Attitudes are still different and practices are widely divergent, which are intertwined to exert effects on everyone, every family and every society.

(2) Impact on Tourism

If the impact on tourism is an avalanche-type collapse, when will the industry recover? As for China's practice in tourism, from May onwards, the recovery of China's tourism industry basically reached 70% by summer vacation and 80% by Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day. This is very optimistic and China's good practice should also bring a good start to the international community.

According to the experts' research results of the World Tourism Cities Federation, the total number of tourists (including domestic tourists and inbound tourists) in 2019 was 12.3 billion, with an income of 5.8 trillion US dollars. Even if it grows naturally, the growth rate in 2020 can reach 4%.

Statistics from China's National Bureau of Statistics show that there were 6.01 billion domestic tourists in 2019, up 8.4% year on year. Domestic tourism revenue was 5.7 trillion yuan, up 11.7% year on year. There were 145 million inbound tourists, including 31.88 million foreigners, with an international tourism revenue of 131.3 billion US dollars. The outbound tourists amounted to 160 million, up 4.5% year on year.

1. On one hand, the pandemic situation of COVID-19 has suspended China's tourism industry. In the first quarter, tourism revenue was negligible. The fixed expenditure of tourism enterprises continued, while tourism consumption was completely suppressed. The peak season over the years can surprisingly become an off season.

On the other hand, it is the spread of the pandemic in the world that makes the impact on tourism multi-faceted and diversified. Even if the pandemic in China has passed, do Chinese tourists dare to go abroad?

From this point of view, the impact of the pandemic on world tourism will be comprehensive and long-term. It is inevitable that the world tourism drops sharply in 2020, and regional fluctuations are even more common. World tourism will change with the changes of the pandemic situation in the world. At present, no prospect can be seen yet, and what can be seen is that the uncertainty is further intensified.

II. China's Practices in Tourism

The situation in China is different. With the improvement of the situation in the fight against the pandemic, from the early May, China's tourism has recovered to 70% of the same period last year in summer vacation and 80% during the 8-day long holidays of Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day. Overall, domestic tourism has basically been back to normal.

China's Practices in Tourism: First of all, it is fully subject to the need to fight the pandemic. China has tried its utmost to rescue patients, city lockdown, and complete isolation. Second, after the situation is under control, tourism was permitted within certain limits. The tourism areas were partitioned according to the pandemic situation, so that the tourism activities could be carried out separately. Third, China has also made its efforts to control flow rate of tourists, strictly prevent and control pandemic, and ensure public health security. Fourth, areas with reversal of the pandemic should be promptly surveyed and strictly controlled. Fifth, residents have a calm and relaxed mind, and urban leisure and rural vacations are becoming popular. Sixth, long-distance tourism began to recover, and the tourism industry basically recovered.

With the advent of autumn and winter, the outbreak of pandemic has made a comeback around the world. Numerous tourism enterprises have shut down, and the future remains in doubt.

III. International Significance 

Do these practices of China have international significance? China's practices cannot be copied, but I think it is still of international significance. As a big country, China astonished the world for what it has done. Although it is hard to do so, China's practices indeed have international significance.

From a global perspective, people are afraid of the pandemic and we hope Chinese people will be less panicky. China has already gone through the toughest times. The dawn of victory has been around the corner, and we should discuss about the economic revitalization in the post-pandemic era. China has already begun the discussion, but the world tourism has not yet reached this stage. However, various tourism international organizations have begun to preach, prevent, and encourage. We have heard so many speeches just now, but in fact they are all encouraging and cheering you up. I believe the dawn finally will come.

The pandemic has weakened the vitality of tourism, but life has to continue and there are always some pursuits for tourism. China's market shows that self-driving tour and camp travelling have become popular and mountain tourism has become the new favorite of most people. Because we have good conditions for pandemic prevention, people can seek new ways of pursuing nature and releasing one's mood under the serious pandemic situation.

The repeated outbreaks after the pandemic has been alleviated should be a necessary process. Judging from the situation in China, the tourism recovery shall follow this principle: first within the province, then across provinces; first around, then long distance; first east, then west; first domestic, then international; first business trip, then travel; first individual, then group. Explosive growth may only be short-term and more like a wishful thinking. However, what are the characteristics of the Chinese market this year? In China today, the western region has become the favored and popular destination. In September and October, the growth rate of the western region far exceeded that of the central region and the eastern region. Another characteristic is that the base number is relatively small. However, the base number of places like Guizhou is not small. This year, we should seek a good development process, and what actually has been reflected? It has reflected the stamina of our market. From the perspective of enterprises, the safety, health, quality, and innovation are the new four elements and the foundation.

Before specific medicines are produced and vaccines are not put on the market, the COVID-19 virus can only be prevented and treated by traditional methods. Therefore, we should have a faith in science and medical staff. However, we should never think that we can relax our vigilance because there are fewer cases reported now.

At present, the only thing that we can do is to wait. Survival comes first, then the food and clothing, and finally the development. So the top priority of this year is to get over such a situation. However, there is always a way to get over and win a victory. We shall stay concentrated and maintain our strength. We shall concentrate on the prospect of the country, the economic foundation and the enterprises' conditions. Not every enterprise can survive this year, but the enterprise that can survive this year can live next year and develop well the following year. This is an inevitable process. Therefore, first, how to maintain our strength lies in conservation and budgeting since the capital chain cannot be broken with the absence of cash flow. This is the process that all tourism enterprises in China are going through this year. After these processes, for example, more than 10,000 among 48 million travel agencies have now closed down. Now it is a full-scale development. For example, the hotel industry has a total of more than 1.5 million guest rooms. From now on, every hotel can basically survive. This situation can be said to be good. In fact, the toughest industry is the airlines. With the success of our internal anti-pandemic campaign, Chinese airlines have caught their second wind, but a number of airlines (including those dominating airlines) around the world have closed down. The cruise industry is basically facing complete destruction. Now some 100,000-ton cruises have been sent to the ship demolition yard for dismantling. Therefore, we cannot only talk about ourselves. If we only talk about ourselves, international tourism will be out of breath. Second, the most valuable experience is that we shall retain the backbones. As long as there are backbones, we'll thoroughly change the backwardness of the situation at any time. Third, we cannot live without customers, and survival of travel enterprises is fundamentally based on customers. However, the customer maintenance we talk about requires us to strengthen contact with customers at this time. The so-called "looking to one another for comfort" actually refers to the common and equal survival and development of the industry. As long as the upstream and downstream are linked with the industrial chain, we will definitely tide over the difficulties. Fourth, resources should be allocated orderly. The resources of airlines and destinations are powerful weapons for competition. If the resources are allocated disorderly, there will be no next movement. Fifth, we shall focus on cooperation, including the upstream-downstream cooperation, and the regional cooperation. Sixth, we shall eye on intelligence, and strive for the platform development of enterprises through new technologies. 

As far as this year's situation is concerned, China is also prominently characterized by its supply of policies. The supply of policies is relatively strong this year. As for a project of camping area, I learned in May that the amount of investment needed was more than 30 million yuan, so I would like to know how about the ROI? He said that the original estimate was to recover the cost in 4 years, but he expected to recover the cost in 3 years for this year's pandemic. I was astonished at that time and I asked why. He said that the four departments gave him a total of 12 million yuan as the policy support, which is equivalent to the recovery of more than half of his investment, so it can be recovered in three years. All countries in the world are pushing forward the policy supply, which is said to be of value in all aspects. However, as the Chinese saying goes, one may help the starving but not the poor. If the market situation cannot be restored, it does not work no matter how many policies there are. The concept here still requires us to jointly fight against the pandemic, so we need to gradually transform in the process.

I feel that in this situation, the second wave of pandemic outbreak around the world is approaching. China has accumulated rich experience, including quick isolation, quick identification of the source, and quick implementation of nationwide nucleic acid tests. Then everyone will be relieved that the overall situation will not be affected. This is not the case at the beginning. We did not have this experience at the beginning. Now not only our medical workers, scientific workers, but also our tourism workers, have accumulated rich experience. Under such circumstances, even if the outbreak of pandemic situation is repeated, it does not actually pose a fundamental danger to us. Therefore, until today, it should be mentioned that the pattern of our tourism revitalization has come into being, but the previous stage is just a process of recovery. As Vice Chairman Shao Qiwei said just now, we need to study the policy reserve, the work reserve and the system reserve. In fact, the establishment of the International Mountain Tourism Alliance, and the work report of this year and the work plan of next year just mentioned by Secretary General He Yafei are all the advanced reserve work. I believe that there is a model like China going ahead, and we are actually filling an international blank in the world. After this blank is filled, it is also an opportunity for China's tourism industry to take a step forward. The next step should be a chance for the market order of China's tourism to exert its power and help the world tourism to recover in an all-round way. I think this is also the responsibility and obligation of China as a big country.

Thank you for your time!