BEIJING: The International Tourism City Forum 2010, with the theme of the forum was "Internationalization and branding of a tourism city," was held in Sofitel Hangzhou in China recently. Guests represented 18 countries from around the world at this forum. The chairman of International Tourism Marketing Association Alfredo Jefferson commented at the opening ceremony, "A World Tourism Organization survey indicated that International tourism is one of the largest and most competitive industries in the world, and it continues to grow. In this environment, the use of effective and efficient marketing strategies will become increasingly important."

The guests attending the forum were Kenyan ambassador to China, Julius Ole Sunkuli; Bulgarian ambassador to China, Georgi Peychinov; Nigerian minister stationed in China, Oladele ademola; the president of French urban planning design studio, Valerie Barrelet; South African traveling trade and investment company, Liliane Dusabe; the special researcher of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences traveling research center, Gao shunli; former bureau level inspector of National Tourism Administration, Li Kefu; and the vice president of Zhejiang University traveling institute, Wang Wanfei, etc. In addition, representatives in numerous, well-known tourism cities and the scenic areas of Guangdong, Heilongjiang, Hebei, Tibet, Shanxi, and Zhejiang provinces also participated in this forum.

International Tourism City Forum, sponsored by International Tourism Marketing Association (ITMA), is another high specification international conference, which is the most influential forum about tourism city internationalization and brand construction. The objective of the forum is "Construction of a tourism city with international influence and realization of an international tourism city with brand management."

Numerous Chinese tourism cities actively explore the path of brand and internationalization, and this forum is held under such background, regarding, "How to implement the strategy of an international tourism city," "How to promote an international tourism city by using the international media," "Responsibility of the government in the course of an urban tourism development" and other subjects launched. This Forum has very important meaning for promoting Chinese cities to strengthen international marketing and building international influence of the brand.