During Feb. 23 to 24, 2010, G20 Ministerial Conference on Tourism was convened in Johannesburg, South Africa. A delegation led by Chairman Shao Qiwei, attended the conference and delivered speech. Tourism ministers or representatives of 20 countries including Argentina, Russia, France, South Korea and Spain attended the conference. Apart from that, the representatives or experts from UNWTO, UNEP, ESCAP, ILO and other international organizations attended the conference.

Shao Qiwei delivered speech first. He expressed that he was very glad to meet old and new friends and exchange views on world tourism development in South Africa, the place that was crowned as “the country of gold and gem”. He reviewed that the past year was an exceptional year in the course of global tourism development; however, China managed to weather through financial crisis and fulfilled expected target; although inbound tour witnessed downturn, China’s total revenue on tourism still reached RMB 1.29 trillion with an increase of 11.3%; and 500,000 more people were employed in tourism industry. He pointed out the Chinese government still encouraged outbound tour despite the possibility of trade deficit; therefore, the number of outbound travelers in 2009 totaled 47.66 million person-times with a year-on-year increase of 4%.

The joint declaration of the Conference indicated that the tourism industry was an important part in global economy; it directly contributed 5% share to the GDP of G20, and the percentage would be higher if the revenue of other related industries was counted in; the outbound travelers to the 20 countries accounted for 70% of the total outbound travelers in the world; tourism industry played an important role in solving the unemployment problem in all countries; it directly provided 75 million employment opportunities in the world, and had the potential of providing more, especially for young people and women; tourism industry displayed huge potential in the transformation to green economy, including its potential in easing global climate change; tourism industry could promote local economic development, enhance the popularity of tourism destinations, publicize cultural heritage and benefit future generations; tourism industry would  also exert a profound effect on global economic recovery; so joint efforts should be made to make tourism industry as the fuel for sustainable economic and social development.