An on-site visit was made between 6 and 8 July 2017 by members of WLO Board of Directors to assess the nomination of Jingde County, in the Chinese province of Anhui, as a World Leisure Community of Excellence for the year 2017. During the visit, the evaluators met with county officials, staff of management committee of Huangshan Mountain and staff from the local travel company, as well as the Executive Vice Mayor of Jingde County, the Vice Mayor in charge of Tourism, Health and Social Services and the Secretary General of the Communist Party of Jingde County. The purpose of such meetings and interactions was to gauge the level of commitment of the leadership as regards to leisure industry and services to the community.
The report elaborated after the visit highlighted that “the contribution of the County to the leisure of its people can best be portrayed as a spiral development that starts from household empowerment which leads to people’s undertaking of leisure initiatives which encourage more active participation and attracting more visitors. All these in turn generate more resources for maintenance and rehabilitation of leisure resources for enjoyment and lifelong learning and growth as evidenced in the community”. This report was then submitted to the WLO Community of Excellence Evaluation Committee for deliberation and decision.
We take this opportunity to send a message for other communities to stay tuned for a new call for Communities of Excellence being launched soon.
WLO sends its congratulations to Jingde County and encourages all actors to keep up the good work in promoting leisure as a means for human development.
Photo credit: Jingde County.
