On September 8, around the summit theme of "Orient Industry Trends, Brand Tourism Cities", WTCF organized four forum sessions, with the themes of “Building of Tourism City Brand”, “Rapid Rise of Mass Tourism and Its Global Impact”, “City Image and City Brand: How Can Tourism Cities Improve Their Image Through Branding?”, and “Creating and Managing Partnerships for City Branding and Promotion”. The second session was a special forum organized by British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
The forum session “Building of Tourism City Brand” was moderated by Dr. Theuns Vivian, Head of Tourism of Cape Town, Vice Chairman City of the WTCF Council. Also, Mr. Gonzalo Robredo, President of the Tourism Entity of the City of Buenos Aires, and Vice Chairman City of the WTCF Council; Mr. Christophe Decloux, Director General Paris Region; Mr. Seven Shu, General Manager of Tencent Culture and Tourism Industry; Mr. Jan Vapaavuori, Mayor of Helsinki; Mr. Gerhard Hrebicek, President of European Brand Institute; and Mr. Liu Lifeng, Chairman & CEO, Ipsos China Region, gave keynote speeches. The brand of a city is very critical all over, from Latin America, the emerging power of tourism, to Paris Ile de France with a mature city brand alike. The guests shared their thoughts and experiences, and expressed that a city could make visitors’ experience more sustainable through efforts, provide better service to tourists and locals, and by being a very responsible city.
The BBC Special Forum’s theme was “Rapid Rise of Mass Tourism and Its Global Impact”. Ms. Rachael Hamilton, Member of Scottish Parliament in Charge of Culture and Tourism; Mr. Marc Crothal, Chief Executive of Scottish Tourism Alliance; Mr. Philippe Noubel, International Culture and Tourism Expert from Czech Republic; Mr. Alberto Sacco, Deputy Mayor of the City of Torino; Prof. Peiyi Ding of Griffith University, Member of WTCF