China Leisure Conference opens in Beijing

The third China (Beijing) Leisure Conference opened in Pinggu district, Beijing on Friday.

The three consecutive conferences by Beijing's authorities that began in 2017 are warmup events for the approaching 2020 World Leisure Conference that will be also held in Beijing in October.

Song Yu, director general of the Beijing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau, said that the leisure conferences held so far are significant drivers of the city's culture and tourism industries, which also lay a solid foundation for the coming World Leisure Conference.

He said that the city's leisure industry is still in infancy, requiring both research and practical work. "The leisure conference, I believe, will inspire Beijing in developing the leisure sector."

The mascot for the 2020 World Leisure Conference – Tao Tao, a cartoon incarnation of the district's peach – will be released at the opening ceremony.

The Golden Leave Award campaign, which aims to select leisure lifestyle cases across the world, opened on Friday. Under the campaign, 10 cases concerning leisure sectors including tourism, sports and healthcare will be granted the award during the 2020 World Leisure Conference.

Roger Coles, chairman of the board of directors for the World Leisure Organization, said that Beijing has developed considerably in recent years and that he is looking forward to a successful World Leisure Conference in Beijing next year.

Initiated by the World Leisure Organization in 1988, the World Leisure Conference is held every two years. Beijing won the bid back in September, 2015.