On 4 December 2017, the 6th Global Summit on Urban Tourism was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. H.E. Tan Sri Hj. Mhd. Amin Nordin Abd. Aziz, Mayor of Kuala Lumpur, Dr. Joan Clos, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, Mr. Taleb Rifai, Secretary-General of UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), and Hon. Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri bin Abdul Aziz, Minister of Tourism and Culture of Malaysia (MOTAC), attended the Opening Ceremony and delivered remarks. There were over 800 representatives from UNWTO, UN-Habitat, MOTAC, Kuala Lumpur municipal government, national tourism authorities, related enterprises, and media attended the summit. H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC), attended the Opening Ceremony upon the invitation.

The Summit co-organized by UNWTO was founded in 2012 and has been successfully held five sessions. It has played a positive role in promoting the sustainable development of global tourism, improving the tourism industry development system, enhancing comprehensive benefit and coordinating between urban tourism and urban tourism regional development of economy and society, and so on.

The 6th Summit was co-organized by UNWTO and MOTAC. The theme of the summit was “Sustainable and Competitive Tourism on the New Urban Agenda”. By holding the summit, the organizers hoped to provide an opportunity to explore the way on how to seize upon opportunities for a sustainable and competitive urban tourism by clearly analyzing the key factors and parameters of success. Key experts from UNWTO, UN-Habitat, internationally well-known tourism academic institutions, national tourism authorities, and such world media as BBC were invited to present speeches. The experts spoke freely and exchanged views on the themes of “Tourism and the New Urban Agenda”, “Key Factors for Urban Tourism Competitiveness” and “Success Stories on Urban Tourism Performance”. During the summit, cultural showcase and natural cultural heritage tour of Malaysia were carried out.