A press conference is convened on July 12 in Beijing to introduce the preparation work for the 2018 WTCF Qingdao Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The 2018 WTCF Qingdao Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit will be held in the eastern coastal city of Qingdao, Shandong province from Sept 7 to 9, according to a press conference convened on July 12 in Beijing. 

The event will be jointly organized by the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) and the Qingdao municipal government. 

Li Baochun, deputy secretary general of the WTCF, introduced the federation and the schedule for the summit in Qingdao, which will include eight major parts such as the opening ceremony and keynote speeches, the council meeting of the WTCF, sub-forums, tourism promotions and exhibitions. 

More than 400 distinguished guests will attend the meeting, including representatives from nearly 100 tourist cities, over 200 tourism enterprises and renowned international tourism organizations from around the world.

According to Li, more than 20 tourism ministers and mayors of tourist cities have already confirmed their attendance.

The 2018 WTCF Qingdao Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit will be held in Qingdao, East China's Shandong province from Sept 7 to 9, according to a press conference convened on July 12 in Beijing. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] 

The summit will be another major international event to be held in Qingdao, a city that just hosted the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in June. 

Cui Dezhi, director of the Qingdao tourism development committee and also vice director of the summit organizing committee, detailed the preparation work for the summit.

Cui said that the Qingdao government attaches great importance to the event. 

"The preliminary work of the summit is proceeding in an orderly and effective manner and we aim to make it a more exciting and distinctive summit in Qingdao."

Qingdao will host the 2018 WTCF Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit from Sept 7 to 9.[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]