PARIS, April 13, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Dr. Hans d'Orville, UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Strategic Planning, attended the Paris Promotion Campaign of the 2011 World Leisure Expo ("the Expo") on April 11th and gave high praise to the Expo, which is to be held from September 17th to November 18th in Hangzhou, China.

Dr. Hans congratulated the World Leisure Expo Committee ("the Committee") on the success of the London Campaign on April 7th, which also drew attention from the British tourism industry and local media. He expressed his appreciation of the Expo and extolled the Committee's innovative solutions and achievements in promoting cultural diversity as well as communication and collaboration between regions and nations via such a grand gathering.

The Expo is a large international event that aims to popularize advanced leisure concepts, services and products that stimulate life improvements from the perspective of leisure culture. Rich and varied, the expo hosts a multitude of activities, namely, exhibitions, forums, leisure experience and other events, attracting all kinds of guests from all around the world, including tourists, exhibiting cities and enterprises, leisure scholars and others.

In 2006, the first World Leisure Expo invited 88 cities from 26 countries to open pavilions, among which cities such as Nimes, Leeds, Berlin, Oviedo, Hague and Pisa were included. Statistics from the Committee showed that over 34 million people participated in activities. The economic benefits were obvious: 233 business events (conferences, exhibitions, etc.) in total brought Hangzhou, the host city, over GBP620 million in foreign capital, while trade turnover reached about GBP1.3billion.

Mr. Shi Yongsheng, Deputy Director of the Committee restated the profound influence that the Expo exerts on peoples' changing lifestyles. He noted that a palpable experience of leisure in such a setting could never be experienced elsewhere.

"New concepts of leisure spring up everywhere at every moment; but you can't duplicate the experience of the Expo. We keep updating people's vision towards the leisure industry, economy and culture. This year, many new items have been brought in, such as the International Leisure Carnival and the International Concert and Beer Festival."

According to Mr. Shi, the Committee will operate a marketing campaign in Germany next and spread the advanced concepts of leisure culture to a wider audience.

For more information, please visit http://en.wl-expo.com/

SOURCE World Leisure Expo Committee