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.

A variety of mountain tourism products, relevant tourism events as well, reside not just in Guizhou, but in China, and even the world at large.

My focus today is the segment of Mountain Village, and I want to share with you how to take tourism resources in mountains, cultural heritage of mountain villages, and mountain vacation products into consideration. 

Take Guizhou province as an example. Guizhou has been at the fringe place of China’s thousands of years of history and progress. As we all know, central China and south of the Yangtze River are home to China’s economic and cultural engines. But Guizhou, a border province, houses many ethnic minorities, thus a present tendency– “from fringe to core.” In the post-industrial and post-urbanization age, regions with relatively inconvenient traffic yet sound ecological environment and well-preserved traditional or national cultures have turned into key areas for tourism development.

Guizhou defines itself as a “Province of Mountain Parks” where people come for a tour, not for settling down. My advice to Guizhou and other mountainous areas is to turn more visitors into dwellers; in other words, turn sightseeing tour into leisure vacation. Because it bears the advantage of making visitors stay longer, spend more, and buy more, and having a stronger push to the local economic growth.

Mountainous areas used to suffer from poor traffic in the past, but things have changed now. In recent years, we have seen more sunny days in Guizhou, probably because of the global warming. But anyway, Guizhou is now perfectly suitable for holiday or leisure vacation. 

Why do I highlight the importance of mountain village vacation? Among all the mountain tourism products, such as mountaineering, sport, sightseeing and ecological environment, vacation can best evoke a higher “destination involvement.” Higher “destination involvement” makes it easier for the destination to progress. Guizhou houses the most traditional villages in China, followed only by the hilly region south of Yangtze River. 

Inconvenient traffic and less external influence in mountains in turn have preserved many cultural legacies well which can further be adjusted as vacation products.

We know that going on a holiday isn’t just spending a few days in a nice house, but rather experiencing the views and local customs. It is the most satisfying part of a vacation. 

Therefore, our goal is to vitalize the cultural heritage in mountain villages as a “vacation experience.” For example, to build hotels featuring such heritage. Like castle hotels in Europe, we have Chinese-style castles, like Anshun city, in Guizhou province.

Nowadays, many mountainous areas, including Guizhou, have had their local traffic improved. As County Mayor Hong from Huzhou city mentioned just now, traffic convenience is of great significance to the tourism development in Huzhou as the city stands very close to the tourism market of the Yangtze River Delta. Once the route from Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, GBA in short, and Guangzhou Province, Guangxi Province, Guizhou Province to Yunnan Province is built, the prospect mountain leisure vacation will look quite promising in the future. 

Next, I’d like to talk about information technology. As we step into the era of 5G, we can book tickets in advance, and bid farewell to the poor experience of getting in crowded lines at destinations. Advanced information technology and traffic can bring even the remotest villages close to any tourist. 

Mountain vacation products include forests, springs and mountain villages. Such village-featured cultural experience is the key in attracting visitors from populated areas like Shanghai, GBA, Paris and Tokyo.

How do mountain villages evolve from planting rice and tea trees to “planting tourists?” For that, local governments need to be aware that agricultural land also needs to be adjusted for industry and service sector by modifying the industrial structure and land use purpose in rural areas. In detail, we must build holiday resorts, and lower down the travel cost for tourists. And the top choice for reducing cost is to add construction land. 

I think governments of all countries need to learn from Switzerland, to “balance protection and development,” and to put the conviction that “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets” into practice. In other words, we should turn the village culture into vacation products.

That’s all.

Thank you for listening!