□ Article/ Journalist Xiong Yi Tr. by Han Fanglan

WTCF Summit Held in Chongqing Plan Shared Economy and Development of World Tourism Cities Globally

□ Article/ Journalist Xiong Yi Tr. by Han Fanglan

World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) Chongqing Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit was held in Chongqing Yuelai International Convention Center (YLICC) from 18 to 22, September 2016. It was the fi rst time not to hold the conference of WTCF in capital cities.

The theme of this summit was “Shared Economy and Development of World Tourism Cities”, which emphasized on the coordinating and shareable development of World Tourism Cities to highlight the international cooperation. About 400 people gathered together to discuss the international communication and cooperation of World Tourism Cities, promoting its coordinating development in economy and society,they are from more than 100 global tourism cities and over 50 tourism institutes and international tourism organizations, like World Tourism Organization(UNWTO), World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC),Global Tourism Economy Forum (GTEF) and Pacific Area Travel Association (PATA) etc., and here are nearly a hundred of famous international press representatives among them.

WTCF, found in 2012, is the first non-profit and nongovernmental international organization, located in China and consisted of world main tourism cities and institutes related with tourism willingly.Chongqing is one of units of initiating and managing WTCF and the only management unit in western part of China. In August of 2015, Chongqing applied for holding the WTCF 2016 summit to WTCF. On the WTCF 2015 summit held in Rabat, the capital of Morocco, in September of 2015, more than 40 members of council listened to candidature fi les from four cities including Chongqing, after voting, Chongqing was the fi rst Chinese city to pass.

Forty projects of tourism and investment were signed contracts successfully during the summit, involving twenty two districts and counties of Chongqing,reaching 80 billion RMB in total. These projects include all kinds of tourism projects, like tourism attraction,tourism complex, and resort, projects of combining culture and tourism, agriculture and tourism, sport and tourism and traditional Chinese medicine and tourism together. The success of these projects is not only a vigor put to the economic and social development of Chongqing, but a new high to develop tourism projects, which show a strong foundation for the goal of Chongqing being the world-famous tourism destination during the 13th Five-year Plan.

This summit was experiencing. Guests and tourists from home and abroad visited the unique waters and mountains, appreciated the beautiful night scenes and tasted the hot and fresh food of Chongqing as well as felt the historical and profound Chongqing’s culture by the world-class domestic liner,investigating three gorges of Yangtze River.

In recent years, Chongqing was awarded the Chinese top 10 tourism destination and a source region of tourists. Besides, it is a city titled of World Top 10 Tourism Destination and World Top 10 Place Filled with Developmental Potential one after another by Frommer’s, an international authoritative tourism magazine, and Lonely Planet.

As a famous historical and cultural city in China,Chongqing has a long history that is over 3000 years. It is the only municipality directly under the central government in the middle and western parts of China, an important Chinese central city, an economic center of the upper reaches of Yangtze River, the biggest inland landscape city with areas of 82.4 thousand km2, a strategic point of The Development of the Western Region in China and a signi fi cant joint of The Belt and Road and Yangtze River Economic Zone. Chongqing is a city with the richest types in domestic tourism; it is a capital of mountains and rivers, hot spring, bridges and food as well as an ancient city. In recent years, the travel of “Beautiful Chongqing—A Capital of Mountains and Rivers” attracted many tourists from home and abroad, which improved Chongqing’s popularity and in fl uence internationally.