On Jan. 19, upon the invitation of UNWTO, Zhu Shanzhong, Vice Chairman of China National Tourism Administration attended as a distinguished guest the 5th Tourism Leaders Forum held in Madrid, Spain, and conducted an in-depth discussion on the theme of ¡°Prospect and Challenge of Tourism Industry Recovery in Year 2010-2011¡± with other representatives from tourism administrative departments and people in the industry of other nations.

The event was attended by some 2000 representatives. 40 distinguished guests from official tourism departments, large tourism groups, as well as financial and investment institutions of major countries delivered speeches and participated in the discussion, including a dozen of ministers or vice ministers of tourism from India, Spain, Africa, Greece and other countries, representatives of the industry such as WTTC President and Chief Executive, TUI President, President of Global Tourism Service of American Express, CEO of Thomas Cook Ltd, as well as representatives from financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley.

On the evening of Jan. 19, Zhu Shanzhong officially met with UNWTO Secretary-general Taleb Rifai. They exchanged views on issues such as the progress of China's preparation work for the celebration activities at the global main conference venue of the ¡°World Tourism Day¡±, theme activities jointly held during the Shanghai Expo, as well as the upcoming 20G Ministerial Conference on Tourism held in South Africa. At the meeting, Zhu Shanzhong offered the English edition of the State Counci's Opinions on Speeding up the Development of the Tourism Industry to the Secretary-general, who promised to put the opinions in full on the official website of World Tourism Organization.