Address by Liu Qi, Director General of Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism Development at International Mountain Tourism Day 2021 World Heritage Mountain (Jinfo Mountain) Summit · International Seminar on Mountain and Hot Spring Wellness Tourism

EDITOR'S NOTE: On May 29 2021, the main activity of the third International Mountain Tourism Day—the World Heritage Famous Mountain (Jinfo Mountain) Summit kicked off in Nanchuan District, Chongqing Municipality, China successfully. Themed with “World Heritage Protection and Green Development of Mountain Tourism”, the Summit got strong support from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), the Global Tourism Economy Forum (GTEF), the Internationale Organisation Für Volkskunst (IOV) and the China Association of National Parks and Scenic Sites. As an important sub-event of this summit, the International Seminar on Mountain and Hot Spring Wellness Tourism was held with top experts and scholars at home and abroad. They gave keynote speeches and shared frontier observations focusing on mountain tourism, hot spring tourism, and health tourism to explore "the integrated development of hot spring wellness, climate wellness, forest wellness and mountain tourism". The speeches will be released in succession to share with industry colleagues.

Liu Qi, Director General of Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism Development delivered an address at International Seminar on Mountain and Hot Spring Wellness Tourism:

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, friends:

Good afternoon!

Today we gather at Nanchuan District, the location of Jinfo Mountain: World Natural Heritage, to attend the “2021 International Mountain Tourism Day - World Heritage Famous Mountain (Jinfo Mountain) Summit & International Seminar on Mountain and Hot Spring Wellness Tourism”, to listen to the cutting-edge views of famous experts and scholars on mountain tourism and hot spring wellness tourism, and to focus on the development of hot spring tourism. On behalf of the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Culture and Tourism Development, let me extend a warm welcome to all the guests! I also wish to extend warm congratulations on the conference!

Under the strong leadership of Chongqing Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, the city’s culture and tourism system is deeply implementing the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping to Chongqing to create a good political ecology, adhere to the positioning of “two points”, the goals of “two places” and “two highs”, play “three roles” and promote the construction of Chengdu-Chongqing Twin City Economic Circle, in accordance with the target positioning of “A Land of Natural Beauty, A City with Cultural Appeal” and the value proposition of “Chongqing: Journey to New Accomplishments”, the five advantages of “Three Gorges, Mountain City, Humanities, Hot Springs and Countryside” are the main battlegrounds to create an upgraded version of tourism development and build a world-renowned tourist destination. As one of the important parts and to make full use of hot springs to achieve the goal of building Chongqing into a “world-class hot spring tourism city and hot spring resort”, we will work on both the supply and demand sides, rely closely on Chongqing’s resource characteristics, and actively introduce international advanced experience, technology, brands, etc. We will focus on top-level design, product development, project creation, marketing and international cooperation to promote the iterative upgrading of Chongqing’s hot spring tourism.

As a mountain city and a city on rivers, Chongqing has a unique vertical climate due to the Yangtze and Jialing rivers and mountains. Chongqing is the only “World Hot Spring Capital” awarded by the World Federation of Hydrotherapy and Climatotherapy, and it is also the “Hot Spring Capital of China”. It has a jurisdictional area more than 80,000 square kilometers, and some 10,000 square kilometers of geothermal resources. Chongqing, a mountain city, is said to be a city floating on hot springs, with “mountains and gorges filled with hot springs”, a vivid description of the richness and extensiveness of its hot spring resources. From the development experience of international mountain hot springs, whether in Switzerland’s Leukerbad, Germany’s Baden or Japan’s Hakone and other world-famous hot spring resorts, the integration of hot springs, mountains and climate and other elements, the development of recreational tourism destination is an essential element and direction of the development of hot spring tourism. Located near 30 degrees north latitude, Jinfo Mountain in Nanchuan boasts a typical karst plateau and rich hot spring resources. These unique natural ecological advantages make Jinfo Mountain a “world heritage pure land and a recreational resort” in the central city of the Chongqing metropolitan area. The new concept of “mountain hot spring tourism” advocated by this conference will definitely inject new vitality and vigor into international mountain tourism and hot spring tourism!

Friends, standing at a new starting point, Chongqing hot spring tourism is ushering in a historic opportunity for accelerated and comprehensive development. The development is just at the right time and in time for its momentum. I sincerely hope that all the experts attending the conference will give more suggestions and ways to develop mountain spa and recreation tourism in Chongqing. Meanwhile, we sincerely welcome and invite the guests to take this seminar as an opportunity to actively participate in the development of hot spring tourism in Chongqing, with the aim to achieve mutual benefits and win-win cooperation in the development process of building a “world-class hot spring tourism city and hot spring recreation wellness resort”.

In conclusion, I wish the seminar a complete success and wish you all good health, success, and happiness!

Thank you!