On May 29, the"International Mountain Tourism Day 2025" Theme Events kicked off on Gran Canaria, Spain. With the theme "Embracing Mountains and Seas, Coexisting with Cultures — Mountain Tourism and Cultural Inclusiveness for the Future," the event brought together representatives from international organizations, government officials, industry leaders, experts, scholars, and media worldwide to explore inclusive collaboration and shared development in global mountain tourism. The program included an opening ceremony, thematic forums, mountain cultural exchange sessions, a China-Spain cultural tourism exhibition, and the "Gran Canaria Night" welcome dinner. Participants engaged in diverse formats to share advanced concepts, discuss cutting-edge issues, and deepen practical cooperation. At the opening ceremony, Ms. Yang Changqing, Director of the Oficina Nacional de Turismo de China en Madrid, delivered a speech.

The full text of the speech is as follows:

It's a great pleasure to gather with all of you on the scenic and picturesque Gran Canaria Island to jointly celebrate the grand opening of the 2025 "International Mountain Tourism Day".

In recent years, as a new engine for promoting the development of the global tourism industry, mountain tourism, with its advantages of sustainability, inclusiveness and experientiality, has driven the continuous innovation of tourism forms, while empowering rural revitalization and regional development, showing strong resilience and potential. In this process, the International Mountain Tourism Alliance, established in China, has played a key leading role. By strengthening international cooperation and experience sharing, and organizing various exchange activities, the Alliance has continuously promoted the sustainable development of the global mountain tourism industry.

Xiaoqikong, Guizhou, China (Source: Guizhou Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism)

China has a vast territory and diverse terrain, with extremely rich mountain tourism resources. It not only has the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the roof of the world, and its numerous continuous and magnificent mountains, but also countless steep and beautiful famous mountains full of cultural heritage. As the official representative agency of China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Spain, the China National Tourist Office in Madrid has actively promoted China's mountain tourism resources to the Spanish market. It has organized multiple groups of Spanish travel agents to visit representative mountain tourism destinations such as Guizhou, Sichuan, Fujian, Xinjiang and Tibet, to gain an in-depth understanding of the local cultural and ecological advantages, promote the development of inbound tourism routes and market docking, and let more Spanish people discover the beauty of China's mountains and rivers.

Namjagbarwa Peak, Tibet, China (Photographed by Zeng Ke)

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Spain. Over the past 20 years, China and Spain have maintained close and fruitful cooperation in politics, economy, trade, culture and other fields. Both China and Spain are major cultural and tourism countries, and are important source countries and tourist destinations for each other, so there is great potential for tourism exchange and cooperation. According to the latest data released by the Spanish National Statistics Institute, in 2024, a total of 648,000 Chinese tourists visited Spain, a year-on-year increase of 66.7%, with an average stay of 10.3 days and an average consumption of 2,958 euros. At the same time, the unilateral visa-free policy implemented by the Chinese government for Spain, as well as a number of convenience measures introduced successively, have also allowed more and more Spanish tourists to embark on the road to explore China. According to statistics from relevant Chinese institutions, the number of Spanish tourists to China in 2024 was 157,000, which has recovered to 95% of that in 2019 (166,000), ranking first among European countries in terms of recovery degree. In terms of direct flights, there are currently 52 flights per week connecting multiple cities in China and Spain, with the frequency increasing by 40% compared with 2019, building an air bridge for personnel exchanges between the two countries.

Tourists watching giant pandas (Source: iBaotu)

Tourism plays an important role in promoting understanding between different cultures and countries. Through tourism, we can personally experience the customs of other countries and enhance friendship and understanding between each other. The hosting of this year's "International Mountain Tourism Day" themed event in Spain is an important opportunity for in-depth cultural and tourism exchanges between China and Spain. The China National Tourist Office in Madrid is willing to work with people from all walks of life to develop more mountain tourism projects with cultural inclusiveness and ecological value. We welcome more international tourists to visit China and get to know a real, three-dimensional and vibrant China.

Source: IMTA

Editor Ⅰ: Zhang Wenwen

Editor Ⅱ: Bao Gang

Editor Ⅲ: Liu Guosong