The Year of Tourism 2023 forum will take place from Nov. 23 to 26 in Ürümqi, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China.

Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Zhang Ming announced this.

The SCO’s press service reported on Nov. 11.

SCO member states declared 2023 as the Year of Tourism in the SCO. It is in response to the challenges the pandemic posed.

That halted the tourism industry in the SCO space and worldwide, Zhang Ming said.

He shared at the upcoming forum their plan. They will raise issues pertaining to the development and implementation of measures in tourism across the SCO space.

The forum may bring together heads of tourism administrations from member states, SCO observers, dialogue partners, international organizations, heads of national tourism companies, representatives of business circles, and the media.

The SCO Secretary-General emphasized that Almaty received the desgnation as the cultural and tourist capital of the SCO for 2023-2024.

After taking over the SCO chairmanship in July, Kazakhstan outlined specific plans for developing tourism in the SCO space, Zhang Ming noted.

He added that an international tourism forum taking place in Aktau is among the initiatives designed to contribute to tourism revival.