Asia Pacific Tour Operators Conference & Emei Global Summit was held in Leshan

On 23rd September 2016, Asia Pacific Tour Operators Conference & Emei Global Summit was held in Leshan. Mr. Wei Hongtao, Vice Chairman of China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), Mr. Yang Hongbo, Vice Governor of Sichuan Provincial People’s Government, Mr. Peng Lin, Municipal Party Secretary of Leshan, Mr. Zhang Tong, Mayor of Leshan Municipal People’s Government, 

Mr. Zhu Shanzhong, Executive director of World Tourism  Organization (UNWTO) , Mr. Andrew Jones, Chairman of Pacific Asia Travel Association(PATA), Mr. Gerald Lawless, Chairman of World Travel& Tourism Council (WTTC),and delegates from global tourism industries and media atended the event.  Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) attended the meeting and gave the remarks.

Vice Chairman Wei announced that tourism industry was a sunrise industry with strong inclusive and high added value. At present, the world tourism industry had entered a major adjustment period, which the Asia Pacific region had become a new bright spot. China's tourism industry achieved rapid growth and become an engine of growth in the Asia Pacific Region. The Chinese 's outbound tourism consumption had taken the lead around the world, and the number of inbound tourists ranked the fourth among the world tourists. These results provided new opportunities to every country and new direction for the innovation and upgradation of tourism products. He wished the tourism industries around the world could make full use of the opportunity of participating the expo to strengthen the docking and innovation, develop more tourism products as well as transform the exchanges into the results of cooperation.

Vice Governor Yang mentioned that Sichuan was an important Chinese western province in the aspects of population, resource and economic, and also the intersection of "The Belt and Road" and Yangtze River. Sichuan will make the tourism industry become a pillar industry, by the way of making full use of its own resources and advantages, under the theme of "green economy, beautiful Sichuan". He expressed his heartfelt thanks to the relevant international organizations for their support to Sichuan tourism industry, and would continue to push forward the cooperation between Sichuan and the countries along the direction policy of "The Belt and Road" to promote the economic and society of Sichuan .

Director Zhu said that tourism had become one of the main driving force to promote the development of the global economy, creating a 

lot of wealth and employment opportunities, playing an important role in the cultural exchanges between countries and achieving regional prosperity and stability. Recently, the tourism industry of China obtained rapid growth , and had made important contribution to the development of world tourism industry. As the year 2017 had been 

declared as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism Development, UNWTO would further strenghten the communication with Chinese government and relevant international organizations, focusing on discussing the new cooperation model and promoting the sustainable development of world tourism industry.

Mr. Andrew Jones and Mr. Gerald Lawless both perceived  that the tourism industry of China had reached great development, and stll have huge potential for development  under "The Belt and Road" policy. The Expo would provide more opportunities to the development of Sichuan tourism industry. They appreciated the efforts made by ACC to promote ASEAN-China cooperation, especially in promoting the regional tourism development to achieve long-term, stable, and diversified development.

Secretary-General Yang said that 2016 marked the 25th anniversary of ASEAN-China dialogue relations which was an important milestone in ASEAN-China relations. The past 25 years had witnessed deepened political mutual trust, expanded pratical cooperation, and increased cultural exchanges. ASEAN-China relations today were more dynamic and robust than any other dialogue partnerships with ASEAN.  This cordial relationship had contributed significantly to sustainable development, peace, and prosperity in this region. At present, ASEAN-China tourism cooperation had expanded rapidly in all dimensions. . ASEAN had become one of the most popular destination for Chinese tourists. The tourism cooperation helped promoted the understanding and friendship between the people. She briefed the work of ACC on assisting ASEAN states developing tourism policies, 

organizing capacity building workshops, making column reports and interview in collaboration with the media, and developing new tourism products. She emphasized that the year 2017 was designated as the Year of ASEAN-China Tourism Cooperation. Thus, ACC would welcome exchanges and cooperation with the governments and tourism industries from various countries.