Wolfgang Arlt West Coast University of Applied Sciences, Germany

I am the founder and director of COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (www.china-outbound.com), based in Germany and China. My first trip to Beijing dates back to 1978 and I have more than 30 years of experience in working with China’s tourism both as a former tour operator and as a researcher and consultant. I am a professor for international tourism management at the West Coast University of Applied Sciences Germany and visiting professor at universities in China, UK and New Zealand. As the director of COTRI I work for the provision of trainings, quality assurance, market research and consulting since 2004 with international organisations like UNWTO, WTTC and PATA, Chinese tourism research institutions, many national and regional governments and with major tourism companies all over the world. I have published a number of books and articles about China’s outbound tourism; I am also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (London), Researcher for the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Tokyo) and member of the Human Resource Development and the Industry committee of PATA Pacific Asia Travel Association (Bangkok). In 2017 I became a member of the UNWTO Tourism Experts Panel