Editor's note: the 2018 International Conference of Mountain Tourism and Outdoor Sports kicked off in Xingyi city, Guizhou province last week on Oct 15. The conference enchanted hundreds of guests including scholars, tourism agencies and media. Several shared their opinions about the conference and the development of mountain tourism in Guizhou.

Stephen B. Richard General manager of American Rainbow International Inc

This is my second time visiting Guizhou province since last year. Over the last two days we took a tour of Guizhou, seeing the telescope and walking up the mountains. I think it is a very smart move for Guizhou province to try to become a leader in mountain tourism. This is a very key market for people who like outdoor recreation. Having an international mountain tourism conference is a great idea to help put Guizhou province on the map. But I also think there are other things that are appealing about the area, for example the ethnic villages and the cultures of the Dong, Bouyei and Miao ethnic groups. I think people would really like to see their costumes and museums, to hear their music and to meet the people.

Andrea Tintori Professor of Palaeontology, Presso University of Milan

I have been in Xingyi several times because we have had a geology research program here with Peking University for several years. This time unfortunately the weather was not so good so I didn't get to see all the beautiful landscapes. However, I did get to enjoy some Guizhou food. As geologists, we look at tourism from a geologist's perspective. The landscapes and the forests here create some lovely scenery and there is a lot of work going on to protect the environment because the agriculture here is organic. It is very important to have meetings here with politicians, technical staff, geologists so we can all gather and share opinions about local environment protection and tourism development.

Matt Bossons American journalist, Thats magazine

I am here as a media representative and am looking to see if there is any possibility of creating coverage and recommending Guizhou to people in the future. I have done a little bit of exploring Xingyi city and it is great to get a chance to check out the beautiful mountains. Although it is a small city, Xingyi is quite impressive because the skyscrapers and lighting here look very modern. It looks like a lot of time and energy has been spent in developing this area. However, although the market here now has been promoted during the MTOS, people in other provinces, like Guangdong, do not really know this city.

Margarita Kotusova representative of a Russian travel company

This conference was really interesting. I was impressed by the Wanfenglin mountains in Xingyi because I have never seen things like this before in my life. It was very beautiful even though the weather wasn't very sunny. My company is thinking about expanding our business and bringing Russian tourists to China. I guess the most difficult thing for tourism development here is transportation because it is a humid mountain region and very hard to get from one place to another. Of course, this city has amazing facilities, but sometimes people just want to see other sights when traveling.