Jointly Building a New Pattern of Sustainable Mountain Tourism, The IMTA Annual Conference 2024 is About to Kick Off

With the advent of the era of mass tourism, the tourist population has continuously expanded, and consumer demand has evolved and upgraded. Tourists now have shorter decision-making cycles, higher frequencies, and a stronger pursuit of the travel experience. New demands and changes in the industry have accelerated the development of tourism formats, and traditional popular destinations are also looking forward to quality improvement and transformation. Besides natural sightseeing, vacation, health and wellness, outdoor sports, and cultural experiences have endowed mountain tourism with more connotations. Diversified and multi-layered market demands have posed higher requirements and challenges for the industry's resource development and product iteration.

Discussing industry changes, seeking solutions together. "The International Mountain Tourism Alliance (IMTA) Annual Conference 2024", themed "Inclusiveness, Mutual Learning, Innovation - Empowering Sustainable Mountain Tourism with New Quality Productive Forces", will kick off on September 26, 2024. It will be held in conjunction with the “International Conference of Mountain Tourism and Outdoor Sports 2024” to jointly build a new pattern of sustainable mountain tourism. At that time, representatives from international organizations, embassies, travel departments and tourism enterprises in relevant countries, experts and scholars will gather to deeply explore and share innovative development paths for high-quality and sustainable mountain tourism in the new era, empowering mountain tourism with new quality productive forces.

A Grand Event is Approaching: Empowering Sustainable Mountain Tourism with the New Quality Productive Forces

New quality productive forces are advanced productive forces characterized by high technology, high efficiency, and high quality, with innovation playing a leading role, breaking away from traditional economic growth modes and productive force development paths, and aligning with the new development concept. Whether it is improving the expansion and safety of mountain tourism through new-generation satellite positioning and communication technologies, or exploring new ways and experiences of mountain tourism with the help of the metaverse and artificial intelligence, new quality productive forces have gradually landed in the field of mountain tourism and become new growth opportunities for destinations. Echoing this top-level design, the "IMTA Annual Conference 2024" will deeply explore the practical path of empowering sustainable mountain tourism with new quality productive forces.

China · Guizhou · Shuanghedong (Shuanghe Cave)

As an important institutional meeting of IMTA held annually, the IMTA Annual Conference is not only an important platform for IMTA to serve its members and the industry, promote development, and facilitate exchanges and cooperation, but also a crucial window to understand the latest developments and future trends of global mountain tourism. During the conference, the "IMTA Council Meeting 2024" will be held, and the "Asian Mountain Tourism Promotion Conference 2024" will be held in conjunction with the opening ceremony of the "International Conference of Mountain Tourism and Outdoor Sports 2024". The annual conference will report on the implementation of IMTA work in 2024 and the key points of its plan in 2025, issue certificates to the host place of "International Mountain Tourism Day 2025" Theme Events, and unveil the IMTA Liaison Office of the Xingyi City. The annual conference will also launch supporting events such as the Young Generation Creativity in Mountain Tourism - 8·9·00 Concept Meeting, and the Mountain Tourism Investment and Financing Exchange   Symposium.

(China · Tianshan Mountains)

The "Asian Mountain Tourism Promotion Conference 2024" is the third conference held under the backdrop of the "Asia Tourism Promotion Plan" of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Themed "Mutual Learning and Cooperation - Join Hands to Embark on a New Journey of Asian Mountain Tourism", the promotion conference will invite representatives of tourism authorities, embassies, mountain tourism destination management institutions, tourism enterprises in relevant Asian countries, experts and scholars to gather together for high-end dialogues on topic "Mountain Tourism Innovation & Community Co-construction", to discuss strategies for high-quality development of mountain tourism in the new pattern. A themed promotion activity will be organized with the topic of "Asian Wisdom and Practice for Mountain Tourism", exchanging experiences in shaping world-class mountain tourism destinations, consolidating consensus among countries, and sharing the development experiences and achievements of mountain tourism in different geographical regions.

(Mountain Sports - Mountaineering and Hiking)

Youth are a vital force in the development of new quality productive forces. The 8·9·00 Concept Meeting will take "dialogue" as the main format, inviting young talents such as enterprise owners, scholars, and internet celebrities to stimulate creativity in mountain tourism around the theme of "Technology Empowerment and New Trends in Mountain Tourism". The investment and financing exchange symposium will focus on "Expanding New Spaces for the Development of Mountain Tourism Industry through Culture and Tourism Finance". Experts attending the meeting will analyze the development and investment trends, industrial support policies, and practical cases of the mountain tourism industry, and discuss topics such as addressing new issues in industry development, utilizing investment to enhance product upgrades and even industrial innovation, and promoting the high-quality development of the mountain tourism industry through innovative investment and financing mechanisms. During this period, the World Mountain Natural and Cultural Photography Exhibition will also be held as a supporting event.

Leading the Industry: The Theme of the Times Accompanies the Main Melody of Development

Since its establishment in 2017, the International Mountain Tourism Alliance has gone through seven years. As the world's first non-governmental and non-profit international organization positioned in mountain tourism, IMTA has always adhered to its international and professional characteristics and has achieved positive results in building platforms for research and evaluation, investment cooperation and innovation, and member dialogue and exchange in the mountain tourism industry. Currently, IMTA has 193 group and individual members from 36 countries and regions across five continents.

In recent years, IMTA has successively cultivated several brand events such as the "IMTA Annual Conference", "International Mountain Tourism Day", "Dialogue Among World Famous Mountains", and "Asian Mountain Tourism Promotion Conference", which have been widely recognized by the international tourism industry and society. Among them, "International Mountain Tourism Day" is the most well-known and influential institutional brand event built by the International Mountain Tourism Alliance through its active participation in the global tourism governance system.

(Mountain Sports - Mountaineering and Hiking)

In May of this year, the "International Mountain Tourism Day 2024" theme event was successfully held in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France. It is the first international event organized by IMTA in Europe. The event aligned with the main melody of the times and resonated widely in the industry, serving as a successful practice of an international organization promoting friendly humanistic exchanges.

(France · Nice · Bay of Angels)

The "IMTA Annual Conference" continues to echo the theme of the "International Mountain Tourism Day 2024": "Mutual Understanding among People through Mountain Tourism", deeply exploring its connotations, further proposing the annual meeting theme of "Inclusiveness, Mutual Learning, Innovation", and introducing the concept of new quality productive forces to creatively interpret how to empower mountain tourism with high quality. The brands of the IMTA Annual Conference and International Mountain Tourism Day influence and promote each other, providing ideological and practical support for the sustainable development of global mountain tourism, and ultimately driving the mutual learning, mutual benefit, and coexistence of mountain tourism civilizations.