On August 18, the 2022 Asia Mountain Tourism Promotion Conference, co-hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Guizhou Provincial People’s Government and the International Mountain Tourism Alliance (IMTA), was held at the IMTA headquarters in Guiyang, Guizhou Province. With the theme of “Amity, Sincerity, Mutual Benefit, Inclusiveness, Cooperation, and Sharing — Jointly Building a New Future for Asian Mountain Tourism”, in response to President Xi Jinping’s “Asia Tourism Promotion Plan” and the United Nations’ 2022 “International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development”, the conference aims to promote cultural exchanges and friendly cooperation among Asian countries, create a positive and healthy mountain tourism mode and market atmosphere in Asia, raise awareness of the importance of sustainable mountain development, discuss the development trend of mountain tourism in Asia from multiple dimensions, levels and perspectives, and jointly build an Asian community of shared destiny. Lu Yongzheng, member of the Standing Committee of Guizhou Provincial Committee and Minister of Propaganda Department, Shao Qiwei, Vice Chairman of International Mountain Tourism Alliance, Cai Chaolin, Vice Governor of Guizhou Province, He Yafei, Secretary General of the International Mountain Tourism Alliance, Zhang Xilong, First-class Inspector of the International Exchange and Cooperation Bureau of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Arthayudh Srisamoot, Thai Ambassador to China, Palitha Kohona, Sri Lankan Ambassador to China, Wang Fukang, Ambassador of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in Asia, Dong Chuanjie, First-class Inspector of the General Bureau of Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, Sataro, Charge d ‘Affaires of the Cambodian Embassy in China, Munkhtushig, Charge d ‘Affaires of Mongolian Embassy in China, Chhabindra Parajuli, Economic Minister Embassy of Nepal in China, and Zaher Aridi, Deputy Director of Lebanese Embassy in China, jointly kicked off the conference.
Amity, Sincerity, Mutual Benefit, Inclusiveness Jointly Building an Asian Community of Shared Destiny
The 2022 Asia Mountain Tourism Promotion Conference is a specific initiative and action to implement the “Asia Tourism Promotion Plan”, advocate to lead the sustainable development of mountain tourism in Asia with the concept of “Amity, Sincerity, Mutual Benefit, Inclusiveness”, promote the revitalization of tourism in Asia after the epidemic, deepen the cultural exchange and mutual learning and tourism cooperation among Asian countries, and push forward the joint construction of the Asian community of shared destiny. At the conference, the participants jointly expressed their expectation of deepening communication through the Asia Mountain Tourism Promotion Conference and sharing the dividends of high-quality development of mountain tourism in Asia and even in the world.
Cooperation and Sharing Empowering Poverty Reduction and Rural Revitalization in Mountainous Areas
Mountain tourism development is an important means to pursue the concept that “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets” and help rural revitalization. In Asia, many concentrated contiguous poor mountainous areas are precisely the places where green hills and clear waters , ecological and cultural tourism resources are abundant. In recent years, it is through the development of mountain leisure and vacation tourism, mountain countryside experience tourism, mountain culture study tourism, mountain outdoor sports tourism and other diversified industries in these areas that disadvantages are transformed into development advantages to benefit the mountain people, expanding the scope of benefits to the people and facilitating rural revitalization. In China, rural tourism is increasingly becoming an important way to guide people to the countryside to explore nature and culture, finding new endogenous paths to promote rural development.
Recovery and Revitalization Sustainability is the Inevitable Way to Mountain Economy
In order to better implement the UN’s “International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development” agenda, the UN World Tourism Organization and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization have jointly put forward five recommendations for sustainable mountain tourism development since last December. The Asia-Pacific region, which is rich in mountain resources, also links mountain economic development more closely with sustainable mountain tourism development. The Guiyang Initiative for Jointly Promoting the Revitalization of Tourism in Asia, which was jointly released by Asian countries, once again emphasizes with practical actions the basic principles of adhering to ecological priority and green development, and the harmonious coexistence between human beings and nature, human beings and society, and further plays the due role of Asian tourism in achieving the “International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development” and global sustainable development goals.
Exchange and Mutual Learning Pragmatic Cooperation for Deeper Development
At present, Asian governments have issued tourism recovery guidelines and supportive policies to jointly face the changes in product and service supply brought by changes in tourism consumption demand after the epidemic, actively exploring new trends in tourism market development and sharing development experiences and solutions, which is the common mission of the Asian tourism sector. The countries are eager to take this conference as an opportunity to establish closer partnerships and promote mountain tourism exchanges and cooperation in a more concrete way.
Creative Integration Creating a Colorful Mountain Cultural Experience
The “Mountain Life Consumption and Intangible Cultural Heritage Heritage Exhibition”, “Mountain and Rural Revitalization Tourism Special Products Exhibition”, “Asia Mountain Tourism Photography Exhibition” and “Mountain Art Space Exhibition” launched during the conference fully showcased the overall image, cultural and tourism resources, related business models and key industries of Asian mountain tourism, depicting the collision between modern mountain life aesthetics and traditional skills of “intangible cultural heritage”, and building a contemporary paradigm of mountain life with shared beauty and coexisting wisdom and interest.
In the future, Asian mountain ecological environment will be better protected, mountain people will become participants, builders and beneficiaries of mountain tourism, and Asian countries will build closer ties and deep friendship in the mountain tourism experience sharing mechanism. We expect Asia’s high-quality mountain tourism to be the powerful voice of the times for the post-epidemic revival of global tourism.
