On February 24, Hu Heping, Minister of Culture and Tourism, met with Zurab Pololikashvili, Secretary General of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, and exchanged views on deepening exchanges and cooperation between China and the UNWTO.

Hu Heping welcomed Zurab Pololikashvili's visit to China and fully affirmed the important role played by the UNWTO in leading the development of global tourism. He said the Chinese government attaches great importance to tourism, and actively promotes the deep integration of culture and tourism with mass tourism, smart tourism, green tourism and civilized tourism. Since February 6 this year, when China resumed outbound group tours for Chinese citizens to the countries concerned on a pilot basis, Chinese tourists have been warmly welcomed by the governments and tourism practitioners of many countries. This will inject new vitality into global tourism recovery and economic development. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China is willing to continue to deepen exchanges and cooperation with the UNWTO and member States, share development opportunities and experiences, and jointly promote the revitalization, rejuvenation and prosperity of the tourism industry.

Zurab Pololikashvili thanked for the invitation to visit China, appreciated that China attaches great importance to and actively participates in the UNWTO Best Villages for Tourism project, and congratulated China's Dazhai Village in Guangxi and Jingzhu Village in Chongqing for being selected as Best Villages for Tourism in 2022. He said he was pleased to see the re-launching of outbound group tourism in China, which not only has exemplary effect but also strongly promotes global tourism and economic development. He hoped to continue to strengthen cooperation with China in many areas in the future, including rural tourism, and jointly promote the recovery and development of global tourism.

Before the meeting, Hu Heping, together with Zurab Pololikashvili and Wang Hao, governor of Zhejiang Province, attended the inauguration ceremony of the WTA headquarters. The UNWTO headquarters is located at Yahushan Island, Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, with a total construction area of about 40,000 square meters. Since its establishment, UNWTO has adhered to the tenet of "Tourism makes the world and life better", and endeavored to carry out the mission of "Tourism promotes peace, tourism promotes development, and tourism promotes poverty reduction". At the first meeting of the second council held on February 23, Zhang Xu, former vice minister of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, was elected as the second president of UNWTO.