On May 9, 2025, the World Tourism Council's second quarter business (academic) interaction meeting was successfully held. This interaction meeting adopted a combination of offline and online methods, attracting approximately 200 rural tourism practitioners, experts, and academic committee members from around the world. The atmosphere was lively, and there were frequent exchanges and interactions.
During the meeting, the Executive Secretary of the World Tourism Council, He Li, reviewed the work of the first quarter and made detailed arrangements for the second quarter. The secretaries and representatives of each region shared regional experience, providing valuable ideas for subsequent work. In the academic interaction session, the presidents and academic committee members of each region expressed their opinions on "The Breakthrough Path of Global Rural Tourism Operations", covering topics such as digital technology empowering rural tourism and sustainable development strategies for rural tourism, bringing new inspirations for the industry's development.
In his speech, Chairman Márcio Favilla of the Council clearly pointed out that many villages have achieved a positive interaction among economic growth, cultural inheritance, and ecological protection through tourism development. Through in-depth analysis of the opportunities and challenges faced by the industry, he emphasized the huge potential of the global rural tourism market. The Council will play a leading role in addressing various challenges such as resource development, infrastructure construction, and international situations, integrating global resources, building an interaction platform, cultivating distinctive brands, promoting project cooperation, and encouraging local innovation in rural health care, study tours, and ecological tourism products. In addition, the importance of the Lu Village Forum was particularly emphasized, suggesting that by inviting international renowned figures to participate and releasing authoritative reports, the forum's influence should be enhanced to attract more investment and policy support for the industry's development. The meeting also clearly defined the work priorities and goals for all members.
The Executive Chairman and Secretary-General of the World Tourism Council, Gan Yongfu, stated that as the first and only international organization for rural tourism in the world, the World Tourism Council plays a crucial role in promoting the development of the rural tourism industry. The Lu Village Forum will aim to benchmark against the Davos Forum and strive to become the most influential international forum in the field of global rural tourism. Through the numerous documents issued at the meeting, such as several opinions, two work responsibilities, and the "2025 Lu Village Forum (Online) Proposal Plan", it provides action guidelines for organizational operation, member collaboration, and market development.
This interaction meeting not only strengthened the business and academic exchanges among members but also pointed out the direction for future work. In the current vigorous development of rural tourism, all members will rely on the two platforms of the Council and the Lu Village Forum to integrate resources, innovate products, expand the market, actively implement the meeting's spirit, promote the global rural tourism industry to reach a new peak, and jointly build a new future for the world's rural tourism.