On July 27, 2021, FITM master students took part in the Plastic Pollution Challenge which was held by UNWTO STUDENTS' League in Madrid, Spain. This event aims to awaken people's awareness of the global tourism-related plastic pollution. Six master students, including Hui Lei,

Yirong Wen, Zeyu Cao, Binglin Tang, Qing Cheng, and Yuting Wang, formed a group under the name of Small Tomatoes team in the

completion under the supervision of Assistant Professor Dr. Grace Chan. After a fierce competition, our group finally won the second prize in

the master's level cohort.

Six members of the Small Tomatoes team from FITM

The competition's results on the UNWTO's official website

The UNWTO launched the "Plastic Pollution Challenge" to make an in-depth discussion on improving innovative and sustainable future

development based on the current trend of tourism industry. In response to this context, the Small Tomatoes team proposed to enhance

Macau's existing plastic emission reduction with a strategic plan under the topic of Green Macau Ocean Plastics (Green MOP) to deal with the plastic pollution problems and put forward solutions and suggestions. They evaluated the current waste management problems and

the status quo of plastic management. Based on the fundamental theory which refers to the ‘3R’ principle:  Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle,

proposed an innovative suggestion and guided to implement a strategic solution to plastic pollution. Our team proposed to start with

community publicity, education from school and align with tourism practitioners in the industry, advocating for implementing source

reduction of plastic pollution. Furthermore, the plan actively echoed the idea of incorporating the quality rating standard system applying to

all the tourist attractions in China, which mentioned in "The 14^th Five-Year Action Plan for Plastic Pollution Control," issued by the National

Development and Reform Commission of China and Department of ecological environment in September 2021.

Screen shot of presentation in the final competition

Students responded to the UNWTO’s experts in the Q&A section

The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is the most influential intergovernmental tourism organization around the globe

which was founded in 1975 and currently has 159 official member states. China became one of the members of the organization in 1983 and Chinese language became an official UNWTO language in March 2021. This not only elevates the use status and proportion of Chinese as an

official language, but also identifies China to take up an active role in global international tourism affairs. FITM actively participates in the

UNWTO's student competition, interacting and competing with the elite student groups which came from worldwide. The positive outcomes were not only limited to addressing the needs of tourism industries, but also enhanced the students' own experience. Additionally, it boosted our university and faculty's reputation and uplifted the image respectively. FITM from the City University of Macau will continue to cultivate

and encourage students to liaise with different elite tertiary education organizations around the world and committee to quality tourism

education in our university.

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