On September 8th, the College of Tourism and Service Management of Nankai University officially joined the World Tourism Alliance (WTA) and became one of its nine founding members of academic circles, including Peking University, Zhongshan University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Jinan University, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, First University of Paris, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Temple University, and it will play the role of think tank for the development of global tourism in a more open, tolerant, inclusive and balanced direction. The College of Tourism and Service Management will take advantage of the “double first-class” construction opportunity of Nankai University, under the guidance of a leadership team with international vision, relying on 37 years of profound accumulation of teaching and research, rich industrial resources and high-quality alumni network, to contribute to tourism education innovation, special research on world tourism development and index research in countries along the “Belt and Road”.
The WTA Annual Meeting and the WTA Xianghu Dialogue 2018 was held in Hangzhou on September 7th to 10th, 2018. Prof. Xu Hong, Secretary of the Party Committee of the College of Tourism and Service Management, Dean Qiu Hanqin, and Wang Shan, Director of the Exchange and Cooperation Office, attended this meeting on behalf of Nankai University, and Prof. Qiu Hanqin received the membership certificate from Liu Shijun, Secretary General of the WTA.
It is reported that the World Tourism Alliance (WTA) is a non-governmental, non-profit, worldwide organization in the field of global tourism launched by China in September 2017. With the purpose of “Tourism makes a better world and life”, the WTA takes the mission of promoting peace, development and poverty reduction by tourism, and based on the principle of mutual trust and mutual respect, mutual benefit and win-win result, it cooperates with the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) to jointly promote the exchange and cooperation in the global tourism industry at the levels of non-government and government. 165 founding members come from national tourism associations, influential tourism enterprises, academic circles, cities and media in 36 countries and regions, and overseas members units account for more than 60%. The headquarters and secretariat of the alliance are located in China. The WTA · Xianghu Dialogue is themed with “Poverty Alleviation and Development, Shared Responsibilities of World Tourism Community”, and more than 200 people attended the meeting, including Li Jinzao, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the PRC, Du Jiang, Member of the Party Group, and Alhassan Bukhalifa, ambassador of Algeria to China, Shi Kefang, Ambassador of Panama to China, Rashed Alqemzi, Consul General of the United Arab Emirates in Shanghai, He Yafei, Secretary General of the International Mountain Tourism Alliance, Ahmed Eiweida, chief expert of World Bank Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development, Wang Wenxu, Vice Governor of Zhejiang Provincial People's Government, Chen Zongyao, Deputy Secretary-General, Wang Hong, Vice Mayor of Hangzhou, members of the Council of the World Tourism Alliance, representatives from the Member Unit, the Tourism Commission (Bureau) of provinces, cities and regions, cities specifically designated in the state plan, large enterprises, domestic and overseas institutions and media reporters.
