On 4 December 2017, the 6th Global Summit on Urban Tourism by UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Hon. Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri Bin Abdul Aziz, Minister of Tourism and Culture of Malaysia, H.E. Tan Sri Hj. Mhd. Amin Nordin, Mayor of Kuala Lumpur, Dr. Joan Clos, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Mr. Taleb Rifai, Secretary-General of UNWTO, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. Representatives of foreign diplomatic missions and international organizations in Malaysia and H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), were invited to attend the event.
In his speech, H.E. Tan Sri Hj. Mhd. Amin Nordin mentioned that the tourism industry plays a key role in the overall development of Malaysia, especially in Kuala Lumpur. Ranking the 15th largest tourist destination city in 2017, Kuala Lumpur has become one of the world's most important tourist cities. The relevant urban construction and development planning have been integrated into the national tourism development strategy. In 2015, Malaysia developed a blueprint for this decade in 47 areas, including tourism. He sincerely hoped that Malaysia tourism and related industries could make full use of the opportunity of this Summit to further integrate resources, deepen cooperation and promote urban development.
Dr. Joan Clos said that modern city management is a global issue. With the development of global economy and the transformation of traditional city function, the key to realize urban sustainable development is how to realize the transformation of urban function and create a new mode of urban development under the new situation. Citing Barcelona, for example, more than 90,000 jobs were lost at the end of the development of the traditional industries in the entire city. 1.5 million new jobs were created after successfully transforming into a tourist city. This is the law of urban development thatthe crisis contains opportunities.
Secretary-General Mr. Taleb Rifai briefed that as one of the most vital issues in the world, tourism reform is very important for urban transformation, which is related to issues like urban development and people's life. Statistics shows that the number of international visitors reached 598 million in the first half of 2017 with strong growth. The number of international visitors is expected to reach 1.8 billion by 2025. At that time, one in every 10 jobs will be created by tourism. To eliminate the inequality and uncertainty in the development of tourism is crucial to achieve sustainable and diversified development of cities. He recommended that government departments and relevant industries should work together on five aspects which are development planning, flow control, environmental protection, mutual cooperation and continuous investment.
Minister Nazri said that Kuala Lumpur is an important tourist destination, with abundant resources in nature, history and culture, which have a good basis for successful transformation. In order to realize the development of urban tourism, the construction of urban leisure facilities and people's life will be gradually improved. In 2016, there were more than 26 million inbound tourists in Malaysia, 4 percent increase yearly, and tourism revenue reached $2 billion US dollars. The tourism industry created nearly one-fifth of the jobs. The number of inbound tourists in Malaysia is expected to exceed 36 million by 2020, with tourism revenue exceeding USD 40.8 billion and 500,000 new jobs. Achieving this goal requires the authorities to formulate a clear tourism development plan consisting of sustainable development with consideration of ecological protection, cultural tourism and service upgrading.
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