Hotel & Tourism SMARTreport #43

Hotel & Tourism
SMARTreport #43
2019 Summer Edition 7
7
RESPONDING AND ADAPTING
TO RAPID GROWTH AND TRANSITION
Second annual Xianghu Dialogue of WTA to plot ongoing
roadmap for industry
The World Tourism Alliance (WTA) is
planning its second annual Xianghu
Dialogue in Hangzhou, China on
Sept. 18-21, 2019.
This year's Dialogue will focus on "Today's
Travel & Tourism Industry: Responding
& Adapting to Rapid Growth and
Transition." Important topics include
global travel & tourism developments
and trends; destination marketing and
big data, technology advancement &
industries innovation and many more
relevant issues and challenges facing the
industry will be addressed in collaboration
with the UNWT), World Bank, European
Tourism Commission, Global Tourism
Economic Forum and the Pacific Asia Travel
Association.
Founded in September 2017, WTA is still a
very young organisation, but its Secretary
General, Shijun Liu says its DNA is truly
global: “The world tourism industry has
expanded exponentially in keeping with
the rapid developments in technology and
high-efficiency distribution channels. The
Internet of Things (IoT) has turned the
tourism industry into an economic force,
facilitating the marketing of travel products
and offers between travel providers/
suppliers and travellers across the world in
real time,” states Mr Liu, adding, “This has
resulted, among others, in a surge in the
number of incremental travellers in Asia
Pacific compared to the more established
and conventional regions.”
China has become the world’s number one
source of outbound travellers, significantly
contributing to the growth of international
tourism revenue. More importantly,
Chinese travellers have become the
most sought-after market segment by
destinations throughout the world. Chinaready
programmes that cater exclusively to
Chinese travellers have been adopted by
tourism offices, hotels, shopping outlets,
museums and entertainment centres.
Chinese-language websites, brochures
and signage are ubiquitous in emerging,
established and conventional destinations.
This signifies the importance of the
Chinese outbound tourism.
So, who are the members of WTA today
and which organisations are they looking
at to further develop?
“The WTA membership covers the whole
travel and industrial chain”, says Mr Liu.
“We are proud that our mission, message
and vision resonate with several companies
and organisations throughout the world
as evidenced by the rapid growth in the
number and geographical diversity of our
members in only a short time.”
As of March 2019, WTA’s membership
roster has grown to 182 from 38 countries
and regions, a sizable increase from 89
members at the time of its establishment
in 2017. Several of their members are
influential and respected companies
and organizations, including Australian
Federation of Travel Agents, Beijing
Tourism Group, Changi Airport, China
National Travel Service Group, Club Med,
TUI, US Travel Association, just to name a
few
WTA Xianghu
Dialogue 2018