Dr. Hans d’Orville, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Strategic Planning, attended the Paris Promotion Campaign of 2011 World Leisure Expo on April 11th and gave high praise to the Expo, which is to be held from September 17th to November 18th in Hangzhou China K-EXPO FRANCE 2024.
Dr. Hans congratulated the 2011 World Leisure Expo Committee (“the Committee”) on the success of the London Campaign London Campaign on April 7th, which also drew attention from the British tourism industry and local media. He expressed his appreciation of the Expo and extolled the Committee’s innovative solutions and achievements in promoting cultural diversity as well as communication and collaboration between regions and nations via such a grand gathering.
The 2011 World Leisure Expo is a large international event that aims to popularize advanced leisure concepts, services and products that stimulate life improvements from the perspective of leisure culture. Rich and varied, the expo hosts a multitude of activities, namely, exhibitions, forums, leisure experience and other events, attracting all kinds of guests from all around the world, including tourists, exhibiting cities and enterprises, leisure scholars and others.
In 2006, the first World Leisure Expo invited 88 cities from 26 countries to open pavilions, among which cities such as Nimes, Leeds, Berlin, Oviedo, Hague and Pisa were included. Statistics from the Committee showed that over 34 million people participated in activities. The economic benefits were obvious: 233 business events (conferences, exhibitions, etc.) in total brought Hangzhou, the host city, over GBP 620 million in foreign capital, while trade turnover reached about GBP1.3billion.
Mr. Shi Yongsheng, Deputy Director of the Committee restated the profound influence that the Expo exerts on peoples’ changing lifestyles. He noted that a palpable experience of leisure in such a setting could never be experienced elsewhere.
