On 23rd September 2016, the Opening Ceremony of the 3rd Sichuan International Tourism Expo ( SCITE) was held in Leshan. Leshan Municipal People’s Government and Sichuan Provincial Commission of Tourism Developmen are the sponsers. PATA, UNWTO, and ACC are the offcial supporter of the event. Mr. Liu Xiaofeng, Vice Chairman of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference attended the Expo and declared it opening.
Mr. Wang Dongming, Provincial Party Committee Secretary, Mr. Wei Hongtao, Vice Chairman of China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), Mr. Gan Lin, Municipal Standing Committee Member and minister of Propaganda Department of Sichuan, Mr. Yang Hongbo, Vice Governor of Sichuan Provincial People’s Government, Mr. Peng Lin, Municipal Party Secretary of Leshan, Mr. Vira Rojpojchanarat, Minister of Culture of Thailand, Mr. Madan Prasad Bezbaruah, Former Secretary, Minister of Trousim Government of India, 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 some delegates from global tourism industries and media atended the event. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) attended the Opening Ceremony.
Secretary Peng introduced the theme of the expo "Tourism Trade and Opening-up and Cooperation—Tourism
Development Revitalizes Silk Road Economic Belt, and the slogan
" Sichuan, the land of abundance" . He hoped to further enhance the visibility and competitiveness of Sichuan as the world's tourism destination. The delegates came from more than 40 countries’ tourism industries. Thailand was chosen to the Guest Country or the said expo for the first time. He emphasized that the Expo recieved the strongly support from CNTA and relevant international organizations, and invited ACC as the official supporter for the first time, getting closer international cooperation.
Minister Gan said that Sichuan had unique tourism resources and rich historical and cultural heritage. Provincial government had placed tourism as priority in the agenda in the field of economic development and people's livelihood improvement. The tourism industry had become the fastest growing pillar industry with great potential. Sichuan would continue to improve the industrialization, modernization, specialization, and internationalization of the tourism industry, and strive to make tourism become a bridge and link on civilization spreading, culture exchanging and friendship promoting. Finally, he welcomed more industries to come to Sichuan for investment and sharing benefits form the growth of Sichuan economic and tourism.
Director Zhu mentioned that the current world economic growth is in downturn, but the development of tourism industry is still thriving. In the year 2015, the number of global cross-border tourists reached USD 1.186 billion and total tourism revenue reached USD 1.5 trillion There was 1 tourism related personnel among every 11 jobs around the world. China tourism industry had experienced a leap forward development and kept strong growth momentum. Chengdu would become the centre of the global tourism industry when the UNWTO General Meeting being held in Chengdu in September 2017.
Chairman Jones introduced the function of PATA and the will on sharing information with Sichuan, deepening cooperation on human resources training, based on PATA’s expanding new business areas. Minister Vira Rojpojchanarat said that Thailand had close relations with Sichuan and become the first outbound destination of Sichuan tourists. Thailand attached great importance to the development of tourism and had made some relevant encourage development policies, hoping to continue to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with Sichuan in tourism, culture and other aspects.
Vice chairman Wei said that the expo focused on Silk Road cooperation, and was the major tourism movement on implementing "The Belt and Road". Currently, the world's tourism industry continues to grow, providing China tourism industry a new golden period of development. He hoped that the expo would become the platform of public relations to the public so as to enhance the image of Sichuan tourism, expand international recognition, accelerate the development of tourism industry convergence.
The delegates visited the expo after the opening ceremony. Mr. Zhu Shanzhong and Mr. Andrew Jones expressed their heartfelt praise on ACC’s well designed booth .
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