As the world recovers from the pandemic, tourism and the development of smart cities is now of even greater importance in the revitalization of our economies. Revitalizing Economies through Tourism and the Development of Smart Cities will introduce how to ideally incorporate the work of international organizations, such as the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Cities, Local Governments (UCLG), World Centre of Excellence for Destinations (CED), with an emphasis on One Belt One Road countries to further strengthen international tourism while also emphasizing the Greater Bay Area.

A two-hour Digital and Entrepreneurship Academy program this fall is the first step in the hopeful development of a more in-depth collaborative Alliance research project to be co-led by the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and the Secretariat Office of the Alliance of Guangzhou University (GISU). Should sufficient interest exist, this program will serve as a springboard for the second step of developing a more in-depth collaborative project which will include a formal applied research project and an international symposium presenting and publishing its findings and recommendations.

During this initial program, the two following topics will be introduced and proposed for further applied research:

 Revitalizing Economies through Tourism and Cultural Synergies

o Enhancing awareness and visibility for numerous tourism and culture synergy initiatives worldwide conducted by destination stakeholders at the local level

o Developing and disseminating knowledge in the field of tourism and culture synergies, and

o Studying the contribution of tourism and culture synergies in the regional and rural areas revitalization.

Revitalizing Economies through the Development of Smart Cities

o Focusing on urban mobility to specifically include the dynamics of mobility and transitory urban planning characterizing large urban centers and their surroundings. In the context of a pandemic with successive repeated cycles of lockdowns/re-openings, this issue is more relevant than ever.

o Focusing on tourism given the expected international tourism recovery from the global pandemic in which access to and analysis of data produced by users are critically important to destination managers to make timely strategic decisions.

Program participants will be asked to participate in the Tourism and Culture Synergies Online Global Registry Initiative by disseminating the Registration form in their community. To characterize each initiative, the Registration form includes a series of principles/actions stated in the four UNWTO/UNESCO World Conferences on Tourism and Culture declarations are used. These four declarations include: (1) 2015 Siem Reap Declaration on Tourism and Culture—Building a New Partnership Model, (2) 2017 Muscat Declaration on Tourism and Culture: Fostering Sustainable Development, (3) 2018 Istanbul Declaration on Tourism and Culture: For the Benefit of All, and (4) 2019 Kyoto Declaration on Tourism and Culture: Investing in Future Generations.

For more information, please visit current project.