CHINA: The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and the People’s Government of Guilin (China) held the 13th UNWTO/PATA Forum on Tourism Trends and Outlook in Guilin last week. Over 170 participants from 23 countries came together to share their knowledge and experience around the theme ‘Beyond Gateways: Dispersal policies, capacity management, and rural tourism’.
UNWTO Executive Director Manuel Butler said at the Opening Ceremony, “today we gather in the Chinese city of Guilin to present our latest tourism research and to discuss dispersal policies, capacity management and the efforts to better understand and prevent the phenomenon of overcrowding is some urban destinations.”
“Guilin is deeply committed to the sustainable development of tourism, and through this forum, the city has become a prominent center for the exchange of tourism knowledge in Asia and the Pacific”, Mr. Butler added.
International tourist arrivals in Asia and the Pacific grew 7% in 2018 to reach a total of 348 million, one-fourth of the world’s total. Asia recorded the strongest growth in international arrivals in the period 2000 to 2018, much of which has been fuelled by China, the world’s top source market. Chinese citizens made about 150 million international trips in 2018.
During the Keynote Session on sustainable tourism, Vincent Nijs from Visit Flanders (Belgium) discussed the transformational power of tourism in the context of a new future vision for tourism, including how flourishing destinations find a positive balance for the traveler, host, and place.
Among the topics discussed at the Forum were the applications of big data to tourism measurement and dispersal policies, the integration of tourism with culture and creative industries, policies for managing sustainable tourism growth, capacity management, and rural tourism.
The event counted with the participation of Amadeus, Telefonica, the World Bank, PATA, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the Los Angeles Convention and Tourism Board, the Guanxi University as well as research and policymakers from different countries in Asia and the Pacific and the world.
The Forum has become over the last 13 years a reference platform on global and regional tourism trends
