Hotel & Tourism SMARTreport #39

NEWS
Hotel & Tourism
SMARTreport #39
2018 Summer Edition 7
The World Tourism Alliance (WTA) has been created as a
global, non-government, non-profit international tourism
organisation. Its membership covers national tourism
associations, influential tourism businesses, academia, cities
and media, as well as heads of international organizations,
former political leaders, retired tourism officials, heads of
tourism businesses and renowned scholars. Its headquarters and
Secretariat are located in China.
Upholding the vision of “Better
Tourism, Better World, Better Life”
as its ultimate goal, the WTA is
“committed to promoting tourism
for peace, development and
poverty-reduction based on mutual
trust, mutual respect, mutual
support and win-win outcome”.
In an official announcement,
Li Jinzao, Chairman of China’s
National Tourism Administration
and founder of the Alliance, said
that the WTA aims to provide
professional services to its members
by setting up platforms of dialogue,
exchanges and cooperation for
business match-making and
experience sharing and be open
to cooperation with international
organizations to promote global
tourism. It will establish high-level
tourism research institutions and
consultancies to study the trend of
international tourism development
and to collect, analyse and release
global and regional tourism data. It
will provide planning, policy-making
consultancy and professional
training for governments and
businesses. It will set up a
mechanism of reciprocity among
its members to share tourism
markets and resources and engage
in tourism promotional activities.
By holding annual meetings,
summits, expos and other events,
it will facilitate exchanges and
cooperation between government
and private sector, to advance
integrated development of the
international tourism with other
industries.
According to Li Jinzao, for presentday
tourism, five major factors
have become indispensable:
governments, enterprises, industrial
associations, think tanks and
tourists. These five elements are
irreplaceable, playing unique roles
in their own ways.
The effects of the five factors would
be crippled, if they were isolated
and worked in their own ways. To
integrate the five factors means we
will have to work on a new platform.
The new platform is exactly the
World Tourism Alliance (WTA). It
is the responsibility and function
as well as the founding principle
of the WTA to integrate the five
factors and optimise them on the
basis of the integration. Hence, be
Li Jinzao, Chairman of China National Tourism
Administration and founder of the World Tourism
Alliance (left), with Gerard Lefebvre, President
of Cleverdis (publisher of the Hotel & Tourism
SMARTreport), at the launch of the WTA – on the
occasion of the 22nd general assembly of the
UNWTO in Chengdu, China.
PROMOTION OF
DEVELOPMENT,
POVERTY REDUCTION,
AND PEACE WITH
TOURISM
Born in China, the World Tourism Alliance
emerges as a major new force to guide the
industry
it the governments, enterprises,
associations, think tanks or tourists,
every entity will find its place on
the platform of the WTA and voice
its opinions. We hope that tourism
cities and enterprises, associations,
think tanks and tourists can make
good use of the platform and
engage in mutual learning