Aiming at the world and embracing "digital plus"! School of International Culture and Tourism of Zhejiang University City College formally established

Standing at a new historical starting point, it has become an inevitable requirement of the times to realize the integration and high-quality development of culture and tourism. Adhering to the principle of shaping tourism with culture and developing tourism with culture, the integration and high quality development of culture and tourism will play a more important role in enriching people's spiritual and cultural life and realizing common prosperity of all people. Zhejiang University City College responded quickly and formally established the School of International Culture and Tourism on February 13th, aiming at the world and embracing "digital plus". The establishment of the School of International Culture and Tourism is a concrete measure to implement the State Council's "14th Five-Year Plan" for Tourism Development, a positive response to the Action Plan for Building a New Era Cultural Highland with High Quality and Promoting the Construction of a Common Prosperity Demonstration Zone, and the result of the need to thoroughly implement the thought of "integration of culture and tourism" of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and "new liberal arts" of the Ministry of Education.

The Inaugural Meeting of the School of International Culture and Tourism of Zhejiang University City College and the Signing Ceremony of Strategic Cooperation between Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and Zhejiang University City College was successfully held under the presiding of Bao Dihong, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Zhejiang University City College. Chu Ziyu, Director-General of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism; Rui Hong, Deputy Director-General of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism; Hong Qinghua, Party Secretary and Luo Weidong, President of Zhejiang University City College; Wang Kunxin, Deputy Secretary-General of World Tourism Alliance; Jin Bingxiong, Member of Party Committee and Deputy Secretary of Zhejiang Daily Press Group; Cui Fengjun, Party Secretary of Taizhou University; Wang Jian, Deputy Secretary of Zhejiang Tourism Investment Group; Lou Yejie, Party Secretary and Director-General of Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism; Wong Wenjie, Party Secretary and Director of Hangzhou West Lake Scenic Area Management Committee (Hangzhou Xixi National Wetland Park Committee) completed the launch ceremony for the establishment of the School together. On behalf of the Party Committee of the School, Bao Dihong read the No.84 Document of the Party Committee of Zhejiang University City College in 2021, and announced the formal establishment of the School of International Culture and Tourism. Rui Hong, Deputy Director of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, and Zhang Deping, Vice President of Zhejiang University City College, signed a strategic cooperation agreement on behalf of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and Zhejiang University City College.

Luo Weidong, President of Zhejiang University City College, Chu Ziyu, Director-General of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Chu Ziyu, Party Secretary of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, and Wang Kunxin, Deputy Secretary-General of the World Tourism Alliance, delivered speeches on the stage respectively.

In his speech, President Luo Weidong pointed out that the excellent school-running genes of Zhejiang University City College gave birth to the "School of International Culture and Tourism", a vibrant and desirable new school, which ignited the dreams of city college practitioners for many years. The establishment of the School of International Culture and Tourism of Zhejiang University City College and the signing of the strategic cooperation agreement between Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and Zhejiang University City College have become an important opportunity for the innovative talent training mode of Zhejiang University City College, and also a key measure to promote the high-quality development of the cultural tourism industry in the province and the city. The signing of the strategic cooperation agreement means that the two sides will carry out collaborative innovation in an all-round way and work together to accelerate the cultural construction and tourism development in Zhejiang. At the time when our school has fully implemented the "14th Five-Year Plan", fully promoted the establishment of "Top 100 Universities" and accelerated the pace of transformation and development, President Luo put forward three expectations: "inheriting the spirit of seeking truth to bravely challenge new heights, upholding the "innovation" gene to open a new phase, and persisting in the fundamental characteristic development of "educating people".

Director-General Chu Ziyu delivered a speech, pointing out that creating an "important window" required greater efforts from our culture and tourism practitioners in Zhejiang to promote internationalization. Two national platforms, i.e. the Light of Asia International Art Festival and the World Tourism Alliance, will be settled in Hangzhou one after another, which requires us to have more international vision and ability to operate these two hard-won platforms and give full play to their functions. Culture and tourism have the dual functions of "enriching the head" and "enriching the pocket". In the central work of the provincial party committee and government, such as empowering and accelerating the development and construction of a common prosperity demonstration zone and promoting rural revitalization, the culture and tourism is with both glorious mission and great responsibility. Zhejiang University City College established the School of International Culture and Tourism and signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism. This is a brilliant, smart and wise move of Zhejiang University City College to adapt to digital civilization, respond to the call of the provincial party committee and government, and establish multi-disciplinary cooperation for reform and development. Director-General Chu said that the Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism would strongly support the construction of the School of International Culture and Tourism of Zhejiang University City College, and earnestly hope that both sides would strengthen all-round and in-depth cooperation, achieve complementary advantages and mutual benefit, and work together in jointly training new professionals of culture and tourism, especially in culture and tourism research, co-construction of cooperation platform and working carrier, co-promotion of legal construction and standardization construction of culture and tourism, and strengthening of talent exchange and cooperation. It is expected that the Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and Zhejiang University City College jointly participate in the work of common prosperity center in the province, as well as the integrated construction of the Yangtze River Delta, the construction of the Poet Road Cultural Belt in Zhejiang Province, the construction of the Grand Canal National Cultural Park, and the digital reform of culture and tourism, so as to lead these frontier work, study the advancement of inventory management projects, and hope that the results can be achieved more, quickly and beyond expectation, so as to make the voice of the City College, harvest the fruit of the City College, and create the brand of the City College.

Wang Kunxin, Deputy Secretary-General of the World Tourism Alliance (WTA), expressed warm congratulations on the birth of the new school, and clearly pointed out that the establishment of the School of International Culture and Tourism of Zhejiang University City College echoed the national strategy of cultural and tourism development, and was of great significance to the culture and tourism development of Zhejiang University City College and even Zhejiang Province. He looked forward to the new achievements made by the School of International Culture and Tourism in talent cultivation, in-depth integration of culture and tourism, research on culture and tourism industry and international cooperation of culture and tourism. He also looked forward to the School of International Culture and Tourism becoming a gathering area for outstanding talents in the culture and tourism industry and building a high-quality and excellent teaching staff. He sincerely hoped that the World Tourism Alliance will strengthen cooperation with the School of International Culture and Tourism, and welcomed the teachers and students of the School of International Culture and Tourism to participate in the activities of the Alliance to jointly promote the high-quality development of China's tourism industry.

Zhang Jie, Deputy Director of the Teaching Steering Committee of Tourism Management Specialty of the Ministry of Education, and Professor of Nanjing University, Carson Lewis Jenkins, Honorary Professor of International Tourism at the University of Strathclyde and Visiting Professor at Nankai University, and Ms. Lv Yongmei, Director of the Greater China Region of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), also sent video speeches at the inaugural meeting. All three expressed the hope that they could bring celebration and congratulations across time and space to the inaugural meeting.

Professor Zhang Jie pointed out that, based on the demand of culture and tourism industry, Zhejiang University City College, relied on the frontier of tourism discipline, integrated advantageous professional resources, gathered outstanding innovative teams, and set up the first national culture and tourism school in Zhejiang Province, which was of forward-looking and important practical significance. Located in Hangzhou, the new school is responsible for the high-quality development of urban and regional culture and tourism and talent cultivation, and it is believed that the new school will be able to explore a characteristic, innovative, high-quality and international new development path, cultivate outstanding talents for the development of national and local culture and tourism undertakings, and bring new ideas, new experiences and new models for tourism management major, teaching system and talent cultivation under the background of the integration of culture and tourism in the new era. Professor Carson Lewis Jenkins expressed his interest in and strong support for the establishment of the School of International Culture and Tourism of Zhejiang University City College. He believed that with appropriate policies and excellent leadership, the School of International Culture and Tourism would have opportunities for development and construction, and hoped that the new school would become an excellent center of tourism education in China. Pacific Asia Tourism Association (PATA), founded in 1951, is one of the three major international tourism organizations in the world. Ms. Lv Yongmei indicated: PATA has always attached great importance to the training of future professionals in the industry, and has always maintained a good cooperative relationship with the tourism management major of Zhejiang University City College. She greatly appreciated the foresight of Zhejiang University City College in establishing the School of International Culture and Tourism. The establishment of the School will provide a large number of high-level talents for the culture and tourism industry in the region. In the future, it is hoped that both sides will work closely together to provide more international opportunities for the new School of International Culture and Tourism through PATA's international platform, and carry out in-depth cooperation in international discipline competitions, overseas internships and international employment. It is believed that the School of International Culture and Tourism of Zhejiang University City College will be built into a world-class school with regional characteristics.

At the inaugural meeting, the appointment ceremony of the first batch of industry tutors of the School of International Culture and Tourism of Zhejiang University City College was also held. Hong Qing Huawei, Party Secretary of Zhejiang University City College, issued the appointment letters of industry tutors for executives from 12 companies, namely Landison Hotel Group, Nade Freedom Hotel, Joyu Lvmama Group, Zhejiang Narada Grand Hotel, Hangzhou International Convention and Exhibition Group, Zhejiang University Urban Planning & Design Institute, Zhejiang Mingyuan Tourism Planning and Design Research Center, Kempinski Hotel Hangzhou, Hangzhou Cohesion Public Relations Planning Co., Ltd., Hangzhou Museum Cloud Co., Ltd, Hangzhou Shangri-La Hotel, and Hangzhou China Travel Service.

Those who attended the inaugural meeting also include: Chen Lin, member of the Party Committee of Hangzhou West Lake Scenic Area Management Committee (Hangzhou Xixi National Wetland Park Committee); leaders of several departments of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism; Professor Zhou Lingqiang, Professor Zou Yimin and Researcher Ying Tianyu from Zhejiang University; Yang Yinhua, Secretary-General of Hangzhou Association of Culture, Tourism and Leisure Talents; In addition to the above-mentioned cooperative enterprises, also representatives from Kaiyuan, Huanglong, Xiaoyao Xianghu, Dale Zhiye, Xipo, Youxiake, Deqing Muya and many other enterprises, heads of various functional departments and related colleges of the university, as well as representatives of teachers, students and alumni of the School of International Culture and Tourism. Li Jian, Chairman of Hangzhou International Convention and Exhibition Group, also delivered a speech as a representative of alumni who graduated from tourism management major, warmly congratulating the establishment of THE School of International Culture and Tourism of Zhejiang University City College.

On the basis of the construction of tourism management major, the newly established School of International Culture and Tourism will take the initiative to meet the innovation needs of Zhejiang and Hangzhou City, build a "culture and tourism+" science and education innovation complex, and build a master's degree program and doctoral degree program in an unconventional way, strive to get its application for professional master's degree program approved in 2023, and basically reach the level of professional doctoral degree program construction in 2025, thus realizing an integrated training system for bachelor's degree, master's degree and doctoral degree. It will strive to build a domestic first-class tourism discipline with the characteristics of "new liberal arts" and a world-class school of international culture and tourism, and become the cradle for international culture and tourism management talents in Hangzhou and even Zhejiang Province, and an important think tank for the high-quality development of culture and tourism.