The 2018 Lancang-Mekong Tourist Cities (Sanya) Cooperation Forum kicks off in Sanya, Hainan province

SANYA,China,Nov. 26,2018 -- The Lancang-Mekong Tourist Cities (Sanya) Cooperation Forum opened in Sanya,Hainan province on November 23,2018 with over 200 representatives from 18 tourism destination cities in Cambodia,Laos,Myanmar,Thailand and Vietnam,officials from the five countries' embassies in China,and industry leaders from the six countries in attendance. With the aim of partnering in projects that would bring benefits to all,the participating cities signed an MOU on cooperation across seven areas of common interest,including setting up a mechanism to facilitate communications,opening new air routes and collaborating on tourism projects.

Member of Standing Committee of CPC Hainan Provincial Committee and secretary of CPC Sanya Municipal Committee Tong Daochi welcomes Minister Counselor of the Vietnamese Embassy in China Nguyen Dac Thanh

Themed "Open and Innovative Lancang-Mekong Cooperation for A Win-Win Future",the forum included the opening ceremony,a roundtable,an exhibition of successful outcomes as a result of collaborations among Lancang-Mekong tourist cities,and breakout sessions on tourism cooperation.

At the roundtable,participants from the tourism destination cities along the Lancang-Mekong River,in the spirit of promoting common prosperity,cooperation and sharing,aimed to promote exchanges of opinions and collaborations in terms of tourism and culture among the cities while identifying what concepts worked as a result of collaborations undertaken at previous conferences and making those concepts a centerpiece of future such collaborations. Key objectives of the MOU included:

improving the mechanism for communications and exchanges of opinions among the 18 cities;

sharing success in the further development of tourism;

facilitating the roll-out of new air routes between the cities by expanding the number of existing regularly-scheduled or charter flights or launching new ones;

improving existing or building new facilities to serve cruise ships,jointly designing and developing cruise routes,and engaging in joint promotion of cruises;

building regional brands for sailboat and yacht competitions,developing innovative tourism products,and facilitating communications among the cities through event marketing;

building a team of tourism professionals via tourism-related education,training and performance reviews;

facilitating the development of products and sharing customer resources through the design and co-marketing of tourism portfolios; and promoting the sustainable development of the tourism sector by advocating green tourism and enhancing efforts in environmental protection.

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