The WLO announces that Laixi, Qingdao, in China, is joining our WL Communities of Excellence network. This Chinese community has shown a remarkable institutional and political commitment for the promotion of leisure as a means to improve their citizen’s quality of life, as proven by the two successful and city life-changing WL Games hosted by the city. The decision was made in the last Board of Directors meeting (Hangzhou, October 2019), and it recognises Laixi, Qingdao as a WL Community of Excellence for a 3-year period.
In October 2019, the WL Board of Directors members, reunited in Hangzhou, unanimously agreed to recognise Laixi, Qingdao, as a World Leisure Community of Excellence for 3 years. The Chinese city of Laixi, Qingdao, has hosted two WL Games which, as expressed by local institutions and key stakeholders, have had a major impact on bringing leisure and sports to the forefront of citizens’ lives.
During the last edition of the WL Games held in Laixi, Qingdao, from May to October 2019, over 20 different events were organized, among which a cycling competition, 3-people basketball games, international and Chinese chess, drone contests and many more. The WL Games were participated by thousands of people, and widely covered by media.
The title World Leisure Community of Excellence is given to communities that have successfully used leisure in all its forms to reinvent themselves and to improve the economic, social and cultural lives of their citizens, and that have made substantive contributions consistent with advancing the mission of WLO. In so doing, WLO brings global attention to the excellence communities have achieved through working together with their citizens to promote leisure as a means to enhance the human condition.