On the morning of February 24, the opening ceremony of the World Tourism Alliance Headquarters (WTA) was held at Yashanhu Island, Xianghu Lake, located in Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou. WTA is the first and only world tourism organization successfully introduced and settled in Zhejiang and Hangzhou. This is of great significance for Hangzhou to fully promote its tourism internationalization strategy and make Hangzhou a world-famous city.

On the morning of February 24, the World Tourism Alliance Headquarters (WTA) was officially opened in Xianghu, Hangzhou.

On the morning of February 24, the World Tourism Alliance Headquarters (WTA) was officially opened in Xianghu, Hangzhou.

The World Tourism Alliance is a global, comprehensive, non-governmental and non-profit international tourism organization initiated by China. It was formally established in Chengdu on September 11, 2017, during the 22nd General Assembly of the United Nations World Tourism Organization. The organization is committed to improving the responsiveness and capabilities of the world tourism governance system and will provide important support for the development of major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics in the field of tourism.

On November 9, 2017, at the World Tourism Alliance headquarters site selection meeting, after competing with Chengdu, Guangzhou, Xi'an, Xiamen and other cities, Xianghu Lake in Xiaoshan was finally selected with the highest score of 825 points. This adds a heavyweight platform for Zhejiang to present its city image to the world. At present, the World Tourism Alliance has 228 members, including 122 overseas members, covering 5 continents and 41 countries and regions. Among the members, there are influential tourism or travel-related companies in various countries, as well as national or regional tourism associations, famous tourist cities, research institutions, media and individuals, covering the entire global tourism industry chain.

On March 23, 2019, the World Tourism Alliance Headquarters and World Tourism Expo officially started construction.

The central square of the World Tourism Alliance Headquarters (WTA)

At the entrance of the Chaosheng Hall where the launching ceremony is located, there are introductions of scenic spots and intangible cultural heritage techniques from all over China on both sides.

The headquarters of the World Tourism Alliance includes two parts: the World Tourism Expo and the supporting hotels.

The World Tourism Expo is located on Yahushan Island, Xianghu Lake. Its main functional area is composed of an underground permanent interactive exhibition area, tourism culture and art exhibition hall, chess court, WTA fire square, Chinese-style copper hall, outdoor temporary exhibition courtyard, WTA international art garden, international tourism sculpture park, cruise ship foyer, etc. The overall design of Yahushan Island is an open and public service scenic spot, that is, with the concept of "pan-museum", the whole island will be built into a holistic and open "big scenic spot" integrating museums and tourism public supporting facilities. The entire Yahushan Island will be an ecological landscape park.

Entrance Square of World Tourism Alliance Headquarters

When you climb Yahushan Island, you can see a large-scale architectural complex with a combination of Chinese and Western styles. The white walls and black tiles are matched with glass walls, surrounded by lakes and winding paths. There is also a huge glass dome spherical building among the well-proportioned greenery, which brings a sense of technological fantasy.

The entire building of the headquarters of the World Tourism Alliance is spacious and bright. After passing through a row of corridors with large French windows on both sides, you can see two exhibition halls of over 1,000 square meters, each with a small garden landscape in the middle. Various events and exhibitions will be held here in the future. Outside the exhibition hall is a grid garden, where the flowers, plants, bricks and tiles are all grid-shaped, and you can also see the Xianzhao Temple in the Xianghu scenic spot from here.

At present, the World Tourism Expo is still under construction and will be partially open to tourists after completion.

Exhibition hall under construction.

WTA office area

With the recovery of China's inbound and outbound tourism, taking advantage of the convenience of the headquarters of the World Tourism Alliance in Hangzhou, relevant departments in Zhejiang will work closely with the World Tourism Alliance to accelerate the promotion and development of the province's inbound tourism market in the next two years.

Reporter: Zhou Feng

Editor: Tan Qikuan