Tourism industry

East China's Zhejiang province was selected as a national demonstration province for all-for-one tourism by the China National Tourism Administration at a conference on Aug 3.

The phrase "all-for-one" tourism has been a hot topic in the news since Premier Li Keqiang mentioned it in the Government Work Report at the fifth plenary session of the 12th National People's Congress in March 2017. Li called for improved tourist facilities and services, and for a big push to develop rural tourism, recreational tourism and all-for-one tourism.

With the expectation that all industries, departments and residents will be involved in tourism development, all-for-one tourism focuses on the upgrading and integration of tourist resources, public services, government regulations and policies to boost overall social development by using tourism as a new engine for growth.

Zhejiang province has been working hard to develop its tourism industry. From free access to West Lake to the layout of hundreds of characteristic towns, the whole province is being built into a huge scenic area.

A tourism promotion conference held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on July 17 set the goal that by 2021 the total output of Zhejiang's tourism sector should be double what it was in 2016 and total output should exceed one trillion yuan ($149 billion) in 2017.

To achieve this goal, Zhejiang will first promote a number of key tourist projects with over five billion yuan investment in the cities of Changxing, Haiyan, Tongxiang and Zhoushan.

It will also develop new tourism types and products such as cruise yachts and greenway riding. In accordance with tourism development, the improvement of public services, including toilets and parking lots in scenic areas, will be speeded up.

The construction of the Zhejiang southwest ecotourism belt, including scenic roads, riding greenways and high-quality landscape trails, will be accelerated. These will connect scenic areas, tourist resorts, tourist towns and cultural industry parks.

Zhejiang will encourage international airports to open international routes by offering preferential policies and funding support. In the domestic market, it will promote its tourist resources in large cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

In 2016, Zhejiang's tourism industry contributed 16.76 percent of the province's economy, and its value of output accounted for 7.1 percent of the province's total GDP. The number of employees in the tourism industry has reached almost three million.

So far, 1,600 tourist projects are under construction in Zhejiang province. There are 16 tourism projects with over 10 billion yuan worth of investment. In the first half of 2017, investments in Zhejiang's tourism sector reached 67.64 billion yuan.