Tourism summit kicks off in Finland

"Smart tourism is the latest trend in the development of world tourism and an important support for the innovation and development of worldwide tourism cities. It has been fully implemented and widely applied on a global scale, which has greatly promoted the service, management and marketing in the world's tourism cities," said Wang Hong, executive vice-chairperson of WTCF Council and vice-mayor of Beijing.

After the keynote speech, panel discussions and forums were held to provide opportunities for industry movers and shakers of international tourism business to deeply discuss the mutual benefits between smart tourism and urban development.

In addition to the technology, a smart city calls for a new vision on urban development and planning by placing the community and local engagement at the center of any conversation about socio-economic growth and sustainability, according to Zhu Shanzhong, executive director at the UNWTO.

During the convention, the WTCF and the UNWTO signed the Memorandum of Understanding, stating that both sides will cooperate in the evaluation, monitoring, sustainable development, tourism destination development in intelligent city and share city tourism experience. Meanwhile, the WTCF signed cooperation agreements with Samarkand in Uzbekistan and Cote D'ivoire Ministry of Tourism respectively, in order to promote their regional tourism developments.