Recently, the World Economic Forum (WEF) released the World Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019 (hereinafter referred to as the Report) with the theme "Tourism is at a turning point". "Turning point" can also be said to be "turning point" or "intersection". The theme of the report is intriguing. It aims to remind decision makers, industry and all stakeholders around the world to review the situation, to see the current situation and impact of tourism development, and to choose and plan the future direction of tourism development - whether to pursue short-term unrestricted growth or to strive to follow it. Sustainable development is the way to achieve long-term, sustained and healthy development.
The report points out that the current global tourism industry is developing well and plays an active role in promoting economic development and increasing employment opportunities around the world. Neither the emerging economies nor the old developed countries have given unlimited hope to the development of tourism. They spare no effort to increase the number of tourists and stimulate consumption. The contribution rate of tourism to global GDP and employment has remained above 10%.
The report suggests that "excessive tourism" has become a common term, that is, tourism may have a negative impact on destinations, residents and tourists, and that crowding and overcrowding are often attributed to poor tourism management. "Over-tourism" is considered to be the result of tourism destination reception exceeding its carrying capacity.
The report analyses the situation that the world's tourism industry is at a turning point, and puts forward useful warnings for the development of the world's tourism industry. The report points out that if problems related to the growing number of tourists are not adequately addressed, they may have a negative impact on future tourism competitiveness and make these countries victims of their own success.
In the future, tourism industry will rely more on technology-driven and high-tech labor force, according to the report. Policymakers should pay attention to integrating efforts to improve the competitiveness of tourism into the overall development strategy so as to balance the short-term economic expectations of rapid growth of tourism and its long-term adaptability to human resources, natural resources and cultural resources.
As a big tourism country, China's tourism development is playing an increasingly important role in the world as a model. At this "crossroads" of global tourism development, we must keep a clear mind. To ensure that tourism development can promote the healthy development of society as a whole, we must pay attention to the multiple benefits of economy, society and environment.