On 7 September 2019, the opening ceremony of the 3rd ASEAN-China Tourism Festival was successfully held in Leshan in conjunction with the 6th Sichuan International Travel Expo (SCITE). Mr. Liao Kequan, Vice Mayor of Leshan Municipal People's Government, Mr. Lu Feng, Counsel Director of Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Mr. Xu Guangwei, Deputy Director General of Harbin Foreign Affairs Office, Ms. Woramon Sinsuwan, Acting Consul General of the Royal Thai Consulate General in Chengdu, Mr. Phoxay Thepvilayvong, Counsellor of the Embassy of Lao PDR in China, Mr. Tran Thanh Hai, Counsellor of the Embassy of Viet Nam in China, representatives from the embassies of Cambodia, Myanmar and The Philippines in China as well as local travel associations, totally around 60 guests, attended the event. Ms. Kong Roatlomang, Director of Education, Culture and Tourism Division of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), delivered the opening remarks.
On behalf of the government and people of Leshan, Vice Mayor Liao Kequan delivered welcome remarks and expressed sincere thanks to ACC and all the partners supporting the development of Leshan. As an ancient city, Leshan is a national historical and cultural site and top tourist city of China. Leshan has established excellent cooperative relations with ASEAN countries thanks to the strong support of ACC, he said. Many enterprises in Leshan have established trade relations with their counterparts from Viet Nam, Cambodia and the other countries of ASEAN. Leshan is looking forward to deepening exchanges and cooperation with ASEAN countries in the future.
Director Kong Roatlomang first expressed heartfelt thanks to the Government of Leshan, the diplomatic missions of ASEAN Member States and all the partners and friends supporting ASEAN-China exchanges and cooperation. In this ideal place for celebration, she said ACC co-organized the ASEAN-China Tourism Festival twice (the first and third editions) with the Government of Leshan, aiming to highlight the significance of tourism industry, promote cultural and people-to-people exchanges and build long-term partnership. With concerted efforts of all the relevant parties, the Festival will give the audience a glimpse of charming ASEAN, including its unique culture and diverse tourist destinations.
Counsel Director Lu Feng gave his warmest congratulations on the successful opening of the 3rd ASEAN-China Tourism Festival. He observed that for a long time, international tourism organizations and ACC have granted great support to the development of tourism sector in Sichuan. The China-ASEAN cooperation, especially Leshan-ASEAN, Sichuan-ASEAN and southwest China-ASEAN cooperation will surely start a new journey and yield fruitful results, he said.
On behalf of the embassies of ASEAN Member States in China, Counsellor Phoxay Thepvilayvong said that ASEAN attaches high importance to tourism development and promoting ASEAN as a single destination. ASEAN’s promotion campaign has received great support from several international partners, in particular ACC. 2019 has been designated as Laos-China Tourism Cooperation Year. The Lao government has invested heavily in improving tourism products, facilities and traffic access with the aim of receiving more than one million Chinese visitors in 2019 and 6.2 million international visitors by 2020. The embassies of ASEAN Member States in China will continue to work closely with ACC and their Chinese counterparts on strengthening tourism promotion and development, he added.
During and after the opening ceremony, artists from Cambodia, Lao PDR and China presented wonderful and colorful performance at the ACC pavilion, which attracted a large number of passersby who also frequently consulted the ACC team on the information of ASEAN tourism. The delegates shared their understandings and insights on people-to-people exchanges and tourism cooperation between ASEAN and China.
ASEAN-China Tourism Festival is one of ACC’s flagship projects. In 2017, it was first held in Leshan, then 2018 in Guilin. After 3 consecutive sessions, the Festival has witnessed growing influence and will play a better role in promoting and connecting A SEAN and China in the field of tourism and culture.