On 18 November 2020, International Mountain Tourism Alliance (IMTA) Annual Conference 2020 was opened in Guiyang City, Guizhou Province. Mr. Dominique de Villepin, Chairman of IMTA, Mr. Zhu Shanzhong, Executive Director of UNWTO, Ms. Gloria Guevara, CEO and President of WTTC delivered video speeches. Mr. Mahendra Bahadur Pandey, Ambassador of Nepal to China, Mr. Lu Yongzheng, Member of the Standing Committee and Director of Publicity Department of the CPC Guizhou Provincial Committee, Mr. Hu Zhongxiong, Vice Governor of Guizhou Province, Mr. Shao Qiwei, Vice Chairman of IMTA, Mr. He Yafei, Secretary-General of IMTA, Mr. Xie Jinying, Director-General of the International Exchanges and Cooperation Bureau of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China attended the opening ceremony and delivered remarks. Mr. Chen Dehai, Secretary-General of ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) attended the annual conference and delivered remarks at the opening ceremony.

 

Over 300 participants attended the conference, including representatives of diplomatic missions from Lao PDR, the Philippines, Japan and France in China, international organisations, IMTA members, as well as experts, scholars and entrepreneurs. Online and offline discussions were conducted on the recovery and revitalization of the international mountain tourism and tourism industry as a whole in the "post-COVID-19 era". As one of the supporters of the 2020 IMTA Annual Conference, ACC signed a MOU with IMTA on the occasion.

A series of activities such as "IMTA Mountain Tourism Award" Ceremony, "Dialogue among World Famous Mountains", "Dialogue between World Famous Mountains and Guizhou Mountain Tourism" Photo Exhibition, and Mountain Tourism Culture Space Exhibition were also held during this year's annual conference. ACC Secretary-General Chen Dehai exchanged views with other guests and opened the photo exhibition together. During his stay in Guiyang, ACC Secretary-General Chen Dehai also met with Mr. Chen Li, Director General of Foreign Affairs Office of Guizhou Province, and exchanged views on strengthening exchanges and cooperation between AMS and Guizhou in the field of people-to-people exchanges.