China-Russia Tourism Cooperation Forum successfully held in Beijing

On March 24, the China-Russia Tourism Cooperation Forum for the "Russia Tourism Year" was held at the China World Hotel in Beijing, jointly sponsored by the National Tourism Administration of the People's Republic of China, the Ministry of Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy of the Russian Federation, and the Russian Federal Tourism Agency, and co-organized by the China Tourism Academy and the Russian "World Without Borders" Tourism Association. Wang Qishan, Vice Premier of the State Council of China and Chairman of the Chinese Organizing Committee of the China-Russia Tourism Year, and Surkov, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and Chairman of the Russian Organizing Committee of the China-Russia Tourism Year, attended the opening ceremony of the forum and delivered speeches. The theme of the forum was "Cultivating tourism cooperation into a new highlight of China-Russia practical cooperation". Nearly a thousand people from the Chinese and Russian governments, business circles, and academia attended the forum. Bi Jingquan, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Organizing Committee and Deputy Secretary-General of the State Council, presided over the opening ceremony of the forum.

(Wang Qishan, Vice Premier of the State Council of China and Chinese Chairman of the China-Russia Tourism Year Organizing Committee, attended the opening ceremony of the forum and delivered a speech)

In his speech, Vice Premier Wang Qishan said that in recent years, the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation has developed well, and cooperation in various fields such as politics, economy, energy, science and technology, and humanities has progressed smoothly. Both China and Russia are major tourism countries. The tourism cooperation between the two countries has achieved fruitful results, the cooperation mechanism has been continuously improved, the personnel exchanges have grown rapidly, and the tourism industry has flourished. China is the second largest source of tourists for Russia, and Russia has become the third largest source of tourists for China. He pointed out that China and Russia should give full play to their respective advantages, strengthen exchanges and cooperation, and cultivate the tourism industry into a new highlight of China-Russia strategic cooperation. The two sides should take the opportunity of the "Tourism Year" between China and Russia to mobilize the enthusiasm of enterprises and the public, and strive to exceed 5 million two-way tourists by 2015; further expand the opening of the tourism market, support and encourage powerful enterprises to invest in the tourism industry in each other's country; strengthen youth tourism exchanges, so that the friendship between China and Russia will be passed on from generation to generation; strengthen communication and coordination of border tourism policies, and expand local tourism cooperation; explore and improve cooperation mechanisms such as tourism investment and financing, publicity and promotion, intermediary services, and security guarantees, and promote the development of tourism cooperation between the two countries to a higher level.

(Vice Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Chairman of the Russian side of the China-Russia Tourism Year Organizing Committee Surkov attended the opening ceremony of the forum and delivered a speech)

Deputy Prime Minister Surkov said in his speech that the "Russian Tourism Year" is an important event in the bilateral relations between Russia and China this year, which will create a good atmosphere for deepening the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Russia and China. The event will enable the Chinese people to have a broad understanding of Russian history, culture and natural scenery, feel the hospitality of the Russian people, and bring the two peoples closer. The Russian side hopes to comprehensively summarize the current situation of Russian-Chinese tourism cooperation and promote tourism cooperation between the two countries through this tourism forum. He said that Russia and China can strengthen tourism promotion, improve visa policies to facilitate tourism, improve the level of tourism professionals, strengthen local tourism cooperation, further carry out youth tourism exchange projects, and strengthen tourists' safety protection. The Russian side welcomes more Chinese tourists to travel to Russia and looks forward to more Chinese entrepreneurs investing in the Russian tourism industry.

(Shao Qiwei, Director of the National Tourism Administration and Executive Vice Chairman of the Chinese side of the China-Russia Tourism Year Organizing Committee, made a speech)

Shao Qiwei, Director of the National Tourism Administration, said in his speech that both China and Russia are world tourism powers, with a long history, splendid culture and beautiful scenery. According to Chinese statistics, the number of tourists in the two-way tourism exchanges between the two countries has increased by an average of 9.6% annually in the past 10 years, exceeding 3.3 million in 2011. The two countries have become each other's main source and destination of tourists. The cooperation between the two sides in the fields of cultural tourism, ecological tourism, holiday tourism, border tourism, tourism safety, tourism education, etc. is being comprehensively promoted, and a series of cooperation mechanisms are playing a positive role. Standing at a new historical starting point, the Chinese tourism industry is willing to take the opportunity of the "Tourism Year" between China and Russia to earnestly implement the important decisions made by the leaders of the two countries, further strengthen cooperation with Russia, and strive to achieve the goal of 5 million tourists in the two-way tourism exchanges.

(Speech by Rachkov, Director of the Russian Federal Agency for Tourism)

In his speech, the Director of the Russian Federal Tourism Agency, Rachkov, said that China is Russia's neighbor and the most important tourism market for Russia. The Chinese tourism market has great potential, and he hopes to maximize the number of Chinese tourists visiting Russia. The mutual tourism year activities will help Russia and China to showcase their respective tourism potentials in a wider range and increase the number of mutual visitors. He hopes that the mutual tourism year activities between the two countries will promote the better development of their respective tourism industries, further expand economic and trade exchanges between the two countries, and enhance the traditional friendship between the two peoples that has lasted for hundreds of years.

(Du Jiang, Deputy Director of the National Tourism Administration, delivered a keynote speech)

In the keynote speech session after the opening ceremony, Du Jiang, deputy director of the National Tourism Administration, delivered a keynote speech entitled "Improving quality, protecting rights and interests, and jointly promoting the stable growth of the Sino-Russian tourism market". He pointed out that since the beginning of the new century, the rapid economic and social development has made the tourism needs and tourism exchange forms of the Chinese and Russian people more diversified and diversified, and has put forward new requirements for the supply of tourism products, the order of the tourism market, the quality of tourism services and the protection of tourists' legitimate rights and interests. He suggested that the tourism management departments and tourism industries of the two countries should strengthen cooperation and jointly explore more pragmatic and effective measures. First, jointly strengthen the publicity and guidance of tourists' travel behavior and consumption patterns; second, jointly promote the development of diversified tourism products; third, jointly promote the steady improvement of tourism service quality; fourth, jointly strengthen the cooperation and exchanges of social intermediary organizations such as tourism associations; fifth, jointly carry out tourist satisfaction surveys, guide and cultivate tourism consumption. Mikheev, deputy director of the Russian Federal Tourism Agency, delivered a keynote speech entitled "National Regulation in the Field of Tourism, Cooperation between Countries and Departments: Review and Prospect".

(Dai Bin, President of China Tourism Academy, delivered a keynote speech)

Dai Bin, president of our institute, delivered a keynote speech entitled "Free movement between people is the strategic basis for tourism cooperation and national dialogue". He believes that the main problems in China-Russia tourism cooperation are that the market scale needs to be expanded, the cooperation between enterprises is not smooth, and the talent shortage. Compared with Japan, South Korea, ASEAN countries, Europe and North America, Russia's tourism publicity and market promotion in China, whether in terms of work institutions, personnel exchanges or the frequency and intensity of activities, has a certain gap. There are also many shortcomings in China's publicity and promotion in Russia. Most Chinese people's understanding of Russia is still stuck in the Soviet era, and they know little about the lives of Russian people today. In addition to some problems in the tourism industry itself, problems in visas and customs clearance have also affected the enthusiasm of tourists from China and Russia to visit each other to a certain extent. He hopes that government departments and the tourism industry will guide the Russian people to treat Chinese tourists well, so that Chinese tourists can travel and experience Russia with confidence. Vikinsky, chairman of the "World Without Borders" Tourism Association of the Russian Federation, delivered a keynote speech entitled "Russia's Tourism Potential and Expanding Chinese Tourists' Travel to Russia".

(Round Table Forum)

In the afternoon, two round-table discussions were held, with 16 guests from both China and Russia participating in the discussion. Guests from tourism management departments, tourism enterprise leaders, tourism college experts and scholars from both countries expressed their opinions in a friendly and pragmatic atmosphere, and had a full exchange of views on how to deepen the tourism cooperation between China and Russia, and focused on the achievements of the tourism cooperation between China and Russia, the problems that need to be solved, and the focus and direction of future development.

(Roundtable Forum)

Xing Guangcheng, Party Secretary and Deputy Director of the Center for Research on China's Border History and Geography, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the sixth director of the Institute of Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies, Feng Yujun, Director of the Institute of Russian Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, Cheng Yijun, Director of the Russian Economic Research Office of the Institute of Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Zhang Jinghua, Deputy Mayor of Qinhuangdao, Duan Jianguo, Chairman of the Education Branch of the China Tourism Association, Guo Dongjie, Vice President of Ctrip.com, Han Lixin, Vice Chairman of HNA Tourism, and Liu Yi, President of Beijing Capital Tourism Group, participated in the roundtable discussion as special Chinese guests.

(Zhu Shanzhong, Deputy Director of the National Tourism Administration, summarized the meeting)

Finally, Zhu Shanzhong, Deputy Director of the National Tourism Administration, and Salishvili, Deputy Director of the Russian Federal Tourism Agency, summarized the meeting on behalf of both parties. Deputy Director Zhu Shanzhong said that the forum was a complete success. He pointed out that cooperation between industries is the basis of China-Russia tourism cooperation. The two countries should give full play to the role of market mechanisms in resource allocation, stimulate the enthusiasm of tourism enterprises in the two countries, give full play to the role of social intermediary organizations such as tourism associations, and promote the establishment of a long-term and long-term cooperation mechanism for the tourism industry of the two countries. Deputy Dean Zhang Dong of our institute served as the emcee and participated in the keynote speech, roundtable discussion and forum summary. The relevant persons in charge of various departments and functional departments of the National Tourism Administration also attended the forum. Members of the research team of the series of research reports on China's "Russian Tourism Year" of our institute, and relevant comrades from various research departments and administrative departments all participated in the forum.