The 2026 WTCF Beijing Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit will be held in Beijing from June 1 to 4.
Currently, the global tourism industry is staging a strong recovery, and digital intelligent technologies are integrating more rapidly and deeply with the cultural and tourism sector. Adapting to changes and leading future development has become a core topic for the international tourism community.
Pool Global Wisdom: Discuss How Tourism Makes Urban Life Better in the Digital Intelligent Era
The summit is themed "Smart Tourism Better Future". It puts forward the concept of "Future Tourism" for the first time across the global tourism industry, responding precisely to the call of the era for the integration of the digital economy and cultural tourism. It strives to build consensus and chart development paths for the digital intelligent transformation of tourist cities worldwide.
The summit has attracted representatives from 58 countries and 73 cities across the globe. The distinguished foreign guests include 2 Deputy Ministers of Tourism of foreign countries, 6 heads of international organizations and 24 mayor-level guests from overseas cities.
The summit will release a host of deliverables including the “2026 Global Smart Tourism Destination Competitiveness Report”, the "Beijing's top 10 technology application scenarios in the culture and tourism sector" and the “Beijing Initiative”, offering references for the digital and smart transformation of tourist cities around the world.
The event will stage more than 20 key activities, such as the General Assembly, Council Meeting, Opening Ceremony, Mayors’ Forum: 2026 Global Mayors' Dialogue • Beijing, four themed sub-forums, exhibitions, as well as the WTCF Member Promotion & Exchange Forum cum Civil Aviation, Culture and Tourism Integration Development Forum.
In terms of cooperation signing, during the summit, the Federation will organize its corporate members in the tourism industry to sign the “Letter of Intent on Mutual Exchange of Inbound Tourists” with overseas travel agencies. Meanwhile, Capital Airport Holding Group, Beijing Daxing International Airport and Vietnam Airports Corporation will sign the “Memorandum of Friendly Partnership”. All parties will deepen cooperation in route development, operation management and talent exchange, to further unblock the channels for cultural and tourism exchanges between Beijing, Vietnam and the wider Southeast Asian region.
The summit also features a supporting exhibition themed Beijing Cultural and Tourism Technology Application. More than 50 Beijing-based tech enterprises including Galaxy General, Yunji Technology and LLvision gather in the exhibition area, showcasing innovative achievements and real-world application cases of technology empowering the integration of culture and tourism in Beijing to overseas guests.
In addition, the World Tourism Cities Federation "Member Home" will be officially unveiled during the summit. As a physical service platform tailor-made for the Federation’s 263 members, this "ever-open international lounge" extends exchanges from the summit into daily connections. It enables regular display of cultural and tourism resources of member organizations and sustained matching for cooperation demands. For Beijing, the launch of the Member Home further enhances its influence and service capacity among global tourist cities, and builds consensus across the international industry.
Since its inaugural session in 2012, the Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit has spanned more than a decade. As a flagship event of the World Tourism Cities Federation, it fully demonstrates the Federation’s concepts, resources and member network. It also serves as an epitome of Beijing’s participation in global tourism governance and efforts to build an international exchange center.
In terms of high-level dialogues, the summit offers a platform for equal exchanges among cities with diverse civilizations and institutional systems. Every year, mayors, tourism officials and industry leaders from dozens of countries gather here to engage in candid discussions. Such face-to-face communication helps all parties deepen mutual understanding and build trust. When it comes to pragmatic cooperation, the summit acts as a catalyst for resource matching. Through activities including member promotion and exchange meetings, exhibitions and themed forums, representatives of member cities worldwide, tourism organizations and enterprise executives conduct face-to-face negotiations. Many agreements on tourist source exchange and cross-border tourism cooperation projects between cities have secured preliminary consensus and moved forward for implementation during the summit. Meanwhile, the core philosophy of "Tourism Makes Urban Life Better" has been continuously enriched with new connotations of the times at each session of the summit.
Deepen Two-way Empowerment: Share Beijing's Experience with Global Member Cities
As Beijing speeds up efforts to build an international exchange center and develop into a prime gateway for inbound tourism, this grand gathering is not only a convergence of global wisdom, but also poised to bring new highlights and unlock new opportunities for inbound tourism in the city.
Beijing has achieved historic results in inbound tourism over the past year. In 2025, the city received 5.48 million inbound tourists, representing a year-on-year increase of 39.0%; tourism revenue reached 50.56 billion yuan, rising by 44.7%. Both figures hit record highs. In the first quarter of 2026, the number of inbound tourists maintained a strong growth momentum, with the year-on-year growth rate staying at a high level of 39%.
These remarkable achievements are attributed to a host of solid measures taken by Beijing to improve service quality, innovate tourism products and foster new driving forces through digital intelligent transformation. The World Tourism Cities Federation serves as a vital platform for Beijing to continuously share and promote its proven Beijing experience across the globe.
As the headquarters location and founding city of the Federation, Beijing shares its practical experience with member cities around the world via this platform, while drawing inspiration from outstanding practices across regions. Tasks ranging from releasing industry trend reports and organizing inspections for international travel traders to conducting targeted overseas marketing may extend across the globe, yet they essentially help Beijing accumulate resources and build a solid reputation for developing into an international exchange center and a prime gateway for inbound tourism. The World Tourism Cities Federation acts as a permanently open window for Beijing to engage with the world. Through this window, Beijing’s experiences are learned by more cities, and global feedback and ideas flow back continuously to drive the steady improvement of inbound tourism in the city.
During the summit, key figures from the global tourism industry will experience first-hand the efficient customs clearance, the convenience of tapping cards to pass Subway gates, and the thoughtful 24-hour "Beijing Services". They may take a boat ride along the Imperial Royal River, stroll through the painted Long Corridor of the Summer Palace, taste coffee brewed by robots in the AI Genesis Community, or complete transactions via the multilingual self-service system supporting ten languages at Xiushui Street. These experiences will become more than just personal memories. They are likely to translate into cooperation agreements, tourist exchange channels and cultural and tourism projects between cities.
This is the most immediate value the summit delivers to Beijing’s inbound tourism: a round of intensive word-of-mouth promotion and targeted resource docking. Every attendee has the potential to act as a publicity ambassador for Beijing.
From 2012 to 2026, the Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit has journeyed from Beijing to the world and now returns to its origin. The 13th session is set to kick off on June 1. What new inspirations and cooperation opportunities will this grand industry event bring to global tourism? Let us wait and see.
