• Seven APEC economies co-sponsor the project, with approximately USD 133,000 in APEC funding
• TPO’s urban tourism capacity-building model to expand into an APEC-wide multilateral policy cooperation initiative based in Busan
• City and local governments to work with youth to co-develop sustainable urban tourism solutions

An urban tourism capacity-building initiative proposed by the Tourism Promotion Organization for Global Cities (TPO) has received final approval for APEC funding and is moving into the implementation phase.

TPO announced that its project, “Enhancing Urban Tourism Governance and Youth Leadership in APEC,” submitted to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Tourism Working Group (TWG), received final approval from the APEC Budget and Management Committee (BMC) in June. The necessary procedures for its official implementation are now under way.

The Republic of Korea has consistently engaged in tourism policy cooperation and international discussions within APEC, including contributing to the establishment of the APEC Tourism Ministerial Meeting.

Building on this cooperation, the project extends TPO’s urban tourism policy capacity-building and youth development programs for its member cities into a multilateral policy cooperation initiative at the APEC level. With Korea serving as the proposing economy, the project is co-sponsored by seven APEC economies: China, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Chinese Taipei and Thailand.

Approximately USD 133,000 will be provided through APEC funding to support the participation of project participants and experts, program implementation, and the dissemination of project outcomes.

Urban tourism as an area of urban policy: Strengthening cities’ capacity to respond to change

The project aims to strengthen the capacity of city and local government officials across APEC economies to formulate and implement sustainable urban tourism policies, while developing the leadership of young people who will shape the future of tourism.

A defining feature of the project is that it approaches tourism not simply as a matter of attracting visitors or conducting destination marketing, but as a key policy instrument for sustainable urban growth and community development.

The project will focus on building practical capabilities that enable cities to design and implement policies suited to their local circumstances while responding to a rapidly changing tourism environment, including digital transformation, climate and environmental change, community participation, disasters and other crises.

Key policy areas will include tourism policy innovation through digital technologies; the formulation of sustainable urban tourism policies; community and stakeholder engagement; and strengthened tourism crisis response and resilience.

Most importantly, the project differs from conventional one-way education and training programs by bringing city and local government officials together with young people to diagnose urban tourism challenges and jointly design solutions.

It will combine the policy experience accumulated by practitioners responsible for urban administration and tourism policy with the fresh ideas and digital perspectives of the younger generation, with the aim of developing more innovative and actionable urban tourism policy models.

Moving beyond lectures: Developing policy concepts for practical application

TPO is currently reviewing detailed implementation arrangements, with Busan under consideration as the primary venue for the project. The program is expected to adopt a participatory format that connects theory with practice through expert lectures, good-practice analysis, group discussions, field-based policy learning and collaborative policy design.

Participants will examine key tourism issues and cases facing APEC economies and cities. Through discussions with experts and fellow participants, as well as a collaborative policy design process, they will develop Policy Concept Notes that can be adapted to the circumstances of their respective economies and localities.

A central objective of the project is to ensure that participation does not end with the program itself, but that ideas generated through its training and discussions are further developed into policies that cities and local communities can apply in practice.

By facilitating the exchange of policy experience and good practices among participating cities and economies, the project will also seek to establish an APEC-wide urban tourism knowledge network and lay the groundwork for continued policy exchange and future cooperative initiatives.

Expanding TPO’s urban tourism experience into an APEC multilateral cooperation model

TPO has accumulated extensive experience in international urban tourism cooperation by operating a range of programs for its member cities, including capacity-building for urban tourism practitioners, policy exchange and youth development. The organization plans to draw actively on this experience and its global network of cities throughout the APEC project.

Particular emphasis will be placed on connecting cities’ policy experience with the perspectives of younger generations and establishing a cooperation model through which city-level good practices and policy ideas can be shared and disseminated across borders.

Through this initiative, TPO intends to expand its role beyond exchanges and capacity-building among its existing member cities and develop into a multilateral platform for urban tourism policy cooperation involving APEC economies.

“This APEC project is significant because the urban tourism policy experience and talent-development capabilities that TPO has built together with its member cities will now be expanded into a multilateral cooperation model at the APEC level,” said Kang Da-eun, Secretary-General of TPO. “Urban tourism is no longer simply about attracting visitors. It is now an area of urban policy that must address digital transformation, communities, sustainability and crisis response in an integrated manner.”

“By connecting cities’ policy experience with the fresh perspectives of younger generations, we will develop solutions that can be applied in practice and build on them through sustained policy exchange and cooperation among APEC economies,” she added.

Building on this project, TPO plans to further expand cooperation with its member cities and international organizations around key global tourism policy priorities, including sustainable urban tourism, digital transformation and youth leadership.

TPO will also continue to share its vision of “Good Tourism” with the international community—the principle that tourism must go beyond increasing visitor numbers and generate positive value for urban economies, residents, local communities and the environment—while developing a new model of cooperation for sustainable urban tourism.