This photo taken on May 5, 2023 shows a child of the Miao ethnic minority taking part in the Zimei Festival in Taijiang County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, in China's southwestern Guizhou Province. (PHOTO / AFP)
MADRID – The Madrid-based United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) on Thursday confirmed that it had awarded the 16th edition of its Ulysses Prize for excellence in the creation and dissemination of knowledge in tourism to Bao Jigang, professor and director of the Center for Tourism Development and Planning Research at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China.
Bao had played an instrumental role in establishing his country as a leading tourism destination
ALSO READ: China's 'culture vultures' descend on the capital
The Ulysses Prize is awarded to "a distinguished scholar for his/her outstanding contribution to create and disseminate innovative knowledge in tourism."
A woman promotes a photo studio where people can dress up in traditional clothes, in the Qianmen area of Beijing on the last day of the five-day Labour Day holiday on May 3, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP)
The UNWTO explained that Bao had "played an instrumental role in growing domestic tourism (in China) in both size and significance and in establishing his country as a leading tourism destination."
People climb the Great Wall of China at Mutianyu, north of Beijing, on the Labour Day holiday on May 1, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP)
Bao will formally receive the prize at the 25th session of the UNWTO General Assembly, to be held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, later this year.