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.
2020"Dialogue among Famous Mountains in the World"
Topic 2:Constructing Mountain Tourism Destinations Targeted at New Consumer Demand
Dialogue
The Host of 2020 “Dialogue among Famous Mountains in the World”
Emma Chen，Global Vice President of the Internationale Organisation Für Volkskunst (IOV)
President Emma Chen(Host): How can you attract more young people to travel to your scenic spots for consumption in the post COVID-19 era and what kinds of changes or reforms would you want to do?
Chen Jin(Chairman of Guizhou Twelve Back Tourism Group): We would like to have different categories of the tourism including the common tourism for middle-aged and elderly people--sightseeing tours, and the special tourism for young people--outdoor leisure sports. We put outdoor leisure sports tourism in the most important position. People take outdoor leisure activities means that they could take a certain time to rest and relax in a busy and tense life in order to adjust their mood, relieve physical and mental pleasure, maintain life and health care, and restore physical fitness regularly.
As an industry, outdoor leisure need to be with a certain entertainment, the second is for leisure, the third is with cultural connotation, and the fourth is to contribute a mature service system. By subdividing the market, young people is the main consumptive force of outdoor leisure for our scenic spots. After years of exploration, Guizhou Twelve Back Tourism Group has also achieved certain results. In the tourist season after the pandemic, our hotel rooms need to be booked one month in advance. I am very pleased with this.
President Emma Chen(Host): The outdoor sports in Siguniang Mountain is well-known all over the country. We want to know after this pandemic, how did Siguniang Mountain construct mountain tourism destinations targeted at new consumer demand?
Yang Weitai (Director of Outdoor Sports Center, Siguniang “Four Girls” Mountain in Sichuan province, China): Siguniang Mountain is a representative of mountainous tourism destinations in Sichuan Province. It is located in Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, only 175 kilometers away from Chengdu City, particularly with rich mountain outdoor sports resources. At present, we have developed outdoor projects such as ice climbing, rock climbing, biking, rafting and so on. Our model is to use mountain outdoor sports enthusiasts to drive the common people to join in this activity. Currently we are applying for the country's first AAAAA scenic spot featuring with mountain outdoor sports. The development and construction of outdoor sports in Siguniang Mountain started in the 1980s and has now begun to take shape. The whole town has 30 professional outdoor sports clubs with nearly 300 employees.
President Emma Chen(Host): The outdoor sports in Siguniang Mountain is well-known all over the country. We want to know after this pandemic, how did Siguniang Mountain construct mountain tourism destinations targeted at new consumer demand?
Yang Weitai (Director of Outdoor Sports Center, Siguniang “Four Girls” Mountain in Sichuan province, China): The situation you mentioned is also our pain point. As people's living standards improved, mountain outdoor sports came into people's lives in an irresistibly state. scenic area has formed a consensus, that is, taking effective management and persuasion instead of “rough” control.
President Emma Chen(Host): Pico del Teide is the highest peak in Spain and the third highest volcano in the world. Parque nacional del Teide is the national park with the most tourists in Europe and the second largest number of tourists in the world. Mrs. Ana, could you please tell us and share with us about your policies, measures and how do you attract the tourists. Thank you!
Ana Lafuente(Representative of Parque nacional del Teide,Tourism counselor of Consulate General of Spain in Guangzhou): I think destinations need to be enriched with content with high quality, attractive to tourists see the rich connotations. I have to say that the Canary Islands, it’s a set of islands where the Parque nacional del Teide is located, is one of the regions in Europe right now where tourism is taking place because the risk is very low. In Europe, the policy right now is trying to identify the regions with low risk, so the tourism can take place and the Canary Islands is one of these regions. The recovery (in Europe) is starting slowly but it’s starting now, and the prospects are quite good. In the short term, we are focused on nearby tourism in Europe. In the middle term, we’re going to be focused on connectivity, because connectivity is really important for us. Our organization which is related to tourism, hopes to open international flights again to reactivate connectivity soon. And in the longer term, we are working on a strategic marketing plan from 2021 to 2024 which will be focused on the post pandemic period and we want to improve the things，such as digitalization and sustainability.
President Emma Chen(Host): Do you have any new ideas for Chinese tourists? Because most people go to Spain, they firstly take the city Barcelona into consideration.
Ana Lafuente(Representative of Parque nacional del Teide,Tourism counselor of Consulate General of Spain in Guangzhou): Chinese tourism groups do like, visiting Madrid and other cities in southwest Spain. We’re focusing on presenting a new Spain that is unknown in China. Spain has 15 national parks. And it is a country with rich biodiversity, rich cultural history and natural ecological landscapes, which will attract more Chinese tourists.
President Emma Chen(Host): What are features of the mountain tourism? How was it affected by COVID-19?
Lorenzo Gonzo (Scientific Counselor & Head of Commercial Office, Consulate General of Italy in Chongqing): Well, Italy tourism is very important sector. It accounts for nearly, 6 to 10 percent of GDP. And we has nearly 4 thousand kilometers of coast, people going for art and culture and mountain tourism.
The industry which drives the mountain tourism in Italy, we have of course, the resorts and the hotel. But what is coming out in the last few years is some sort of shared economy that you have a B&B accommodation or even agricultural tourism. More infrastructure are led by local families, so you could have an immersive experience by living in the country side and near the mountain.
For winter time, Italy is also quite strong for ski industry and mounting. We have over 1,500 ski facilities which are nearby Switzerland. Italy is contributing also for Beijing 2022. Italy has been hosting three times the Olympics and the next time is in 2026. There are a lot of other activities like climbing, rafting, canyoning, mountain biking, ski touring and snow shoring and we try to offer all of these things to the tourist with a full immersive experience in the mountain tourism. Of course, sustainability, it has be an award which has been used all along this conference is the kind of behavior.
President Emma Chen(Host): What is your plan for the future cooperation with the IMTA? Do you have any suggestion to the IMTA?
Chen Jin (Chairman of Guizhou Twelve Back Tourism Group): Through the Annul Conference of IMTA, we have a lot of the enlightenment,. I think this is a three dimensional era and a win-win era, in the future, we need more participation and to get more enlightenment and ideas for the contributions for the Guizhou Province.
Yang Weitai(Director of Outdoor Activity Management Center of MT. Siguniang Scenic Area Administration Bureau): I really just hope in the future, IMTA can provide more platforms for us to do more promotion. We also hope we can have more mutual cooperation.
Ana Lafuente(Representative of Parque nacional del Teide,Tourism counselor of Consulate General of Spain in Guangzhou): Well, I think there should be more cooperation. Spain is world renowned tourism destination. I think it’s important to be involved in this initiative(conference). So, firstly I’m going to share with my head quarters all that has been shared here and then to see how we can improve the cooperation.
Lorenzo Gonzo (Scientific Counselor & Head of Commercial Office, Consulate General of Italy in Chongqing): We will strengthen the cooperation with IMTA. Mountain tourism is coming about more and more important because in case of this pandemic, it ensures the social distancing and relax needs. This is very important to promote all over the world.
