On October 21st, “Lancang-Mekong Tourist Cities Cooperation Alliance Conference and Lancang-Mekong Mayor Forum on Culture and Tourism” (hereinafter referred to as the “conference”) was held in Chongqing by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Chongqing Municipal Cultural and Tourism Development Committee and Chongqing government of the Jiulongpo district. The conference was held with both online and offline methods. The theme was “sharing new opportunities of land and marine passage·jointly support Lancang-Mekong cultural and tourism development”. Attendees discussed promotion methods for the recovery of tourism and cultural industries in the Lancang-Mekong area to promote high-quality development of culture and tourism in this area.
Those attended the conference and delivered speeches were Du Jiang, Chinese vice minister of culture and tourism, Cai Yunge, vice mayor of Chongqing municipality, ambassador form China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, U Myo Thant Pe, Myanmar’s ambassador to China, Khamphao Ernthavanh, Laotian ambassador to China, consul general of Cambodia in Chongqing. Atthayut Srisamut, Thailand’s ambassador to China, delivered a speech through video. Thong Khon, Cambodian tourism minister, sent a congratulation letter. Attendees also included representatives of Myanmar’s minister of restaurant and tourism, Laotian Ministry of News and Culture, Myanmar Tourism General Bureau and departments of Mekong national tourism. People form 28 member cities of the alliance as well as experts, scholars, and representatives form well-known enterprises and industrial associations participated in the event with online and offline methods.
The conference saw the establishment of the “The Working Plan and Five-Year Action Plan of the Cooperative Alliance of Lancang-Mekong Tourism Cities”. Representatives of Chinese member cities discussed and passed “Cooperative Alliance of Lancang-Mekong Tourism Cities (Chinese Draft)” to improve alliance mechanism. Chongqing established “Chongqing Initiative for Lancang-Mekong Tourism Cooperation” as an alliance member and a host city of the conference. The city representatives advocated that members of alliances should make full use of the international and western land and marine trade passages; construct a practical and cooperative mechanism of extensive consultation and shared benefit and build a communication mechanism and cooperative platform for high-level tourism communication of cities in Lancang-Mekong regional tourism.
The conference was a beneficial attempt for Lancang-Mekong countries to enhance tourism cooperation relying on a city platform. The Lancang-Mekong mayor cultural and tourism forum was held as a parallel and branch forum. During the forum, attendees exchanged ideas on three forum themes, including “post-pandemic tourism recovery and safety coordination mechanism”, “Lancang-Mekong city cooperation and the internationalization of cities in the interior land of China” and “tourism development and rural rejuvenation”, which were preparation for the rapid recovery and high-quality development of the cultural tourism in the Lancang-Mekong region in the post-pandemic era.