Over the weekend, officials gathered at the 13th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Tourism Ministerial Meeting in the Macao Special Administrative Region, where they emphasized China’s major contributions to regional and global tourism development, which is seen as a key economic driver for the Asia-Pacific region.
China looks forward to working with all APEC members to advance cooperation and jointly promote the growth and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region, said Chen Xu, chair of the APEC 2026 Senior Officials’ Meeting and president of China Public Diplomacy Association.
“Travel facilitation is a key priority within APEC’s tourism agenda,” said Chen.
Tourism contributed 10.4 percent of the region’s GDP before the COVID-19 pandemic, data from the APEC website showed. In 2024, APEC economies received 439 million international visitors, of whom 359 million were intra-regional travelers.
Under the theme “Digital Innovation, Collaborative Empowerment: Leveraging Tourism for an Asia-Pacific Community”, the meeting brought together over 200 participants from APEC economies to discuss sustainable tourism development and the joint exploration of new pathways for tourism cooperation across the region.
“This meeting is an important opportunity to seek cooperation measures for the sustainable growth of the tourism industry in the APEC region amid the era of digital transformation,” said Chae Hwi-young, South Korea’s minister of culture, sports and tourism.
Chae also proposed jointly designating 2027-28 as the “China-South Korea Year of Tourism”.
“Chinese tourist arrivals to Vietnam reached 2.3 million in the first half of this year,” said Ha Van Sieu, vice-chairman of the Viet Nam National Authority of Tourism.
He said he was optimistic about the prospects for bilateral tourism cooperation and looked forward to new breakthroughs under the China-Vietnam tourism cooperation year in 2026-2027.
At a welcome dinner co-hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Macao SAR government on June 26, Macao Chief Executive Sam Hou-fai noted that it had been 12 years since Macao last hosted the APEC Tourism Ministerial Meeting.
“Leveraging our deep heritage of over four centuries of Chinese-Western cultural integration and our unique advantage of close ties with Portuguese-speaking countries, we will actively align with national strategic deployments, fully serve the mutual learning between Chinese-Western civilizations,” Sam said, noting the SAR aims to be an important bridgehead for the nation’s high-level opening up.
This sentiment was echoed by tourism and cultural officials from APEC member economies when they wrapped up the 13th APEC Tourism Ministerial Meeting on June 28 with a tour showcasing Macao’s distinctive blend of Eastern and Western heritage.
They said the Macao SAR’s commitment to developing its tourism sector and promoting exchanges between China and the West makes it an ideal platform for advancing Asia-Pacific tourism cooperation.
Anna Clark, deputy secretary of New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, said she was glad to visit museums and heritage sites in Macao as they formed an important part of the region’s tourism offering.
Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, director of the Macao Government Tourism Office, said all vehicles used by delegates were electric to showcase the nation’s advanced technology, and that the event also featured traditional Chinese dances and Portuguese folk dance performances.
The Tourism Ministerial Meeting was an important component of the APEC China 2026 series of events. As the host of APEC 2026, China will hold the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, in November. About 300 APEC-related meetings and events are taking place in multiple Chinese cities throughout the year.
Yang Xiaoyu and Li Xiang in Macao contributed to this story.