Located on the southeast coast of China, Zhoushan Islands form the largest archipelago in the country. It is not only the center of the eastern coastline but also the estuary of the Yangtze, Qiantang and Minjiang rivers.
As one of the cities known for its archipelago landscape, Zhoushan consists of 1,390 islands, almost 20 percent of the total number of islands in China. With a land area of 1,440 square kilometers and an inland sea area of 20,800 square kilometers, Zhoushan boasts abundant tourism resources, profound Buddhist culture and marine culture.
The scattered islands, magnificent sea views, soft and clean beaches, exotic Buddhist temples, agreeable climate, and unique folk customs of the islands makes the city a tourist mecca for visitors from both home and abroad.
The Zhoushan Archipelago has more than 1,000 tourist attractions featuring Buddhist culture, mountainous landscapes and fishery customs. National-level scenic spots, including the Putuo Mountain and the Yuli Island, and provincial-level scenic spots such as the Laoshan Island and Taohua Island, help attract a large number of tourists to the city and contribute a significant amount to the total revenue of local marine tourism.
It is one of the cities with the best ambient air quality in the country. The proportion of good and fair air quality in Zhoushan city has risen to more than 99.4percent every year and its forest coverage rate remains stable at over 50 percent.
In 2017, the total revenue of the local tourism industry totaled 80.67 billion yuan ($11.73 billion), a year-on-year increase of 21.9 percent. The city catered to 55.072 million tourists, among whom 344,000 came from overseas, and realized a foreign exchange income of $176.31 million.
Putuo Mountain Scenic Area received 8.579 million visitors, a year-on-year growth of 14.4 percent; Zhujiajian Scenic Area received 7.649 million tourists, an increase of 18.1 percent; Taohuadao Scenic Area received 2.809 million visitors, an increase of 10.6 percent.
At the end of 2017, there were 153 travel agencies in the city. There are 27 star-rated hotels in the city with 2,796 guestrooms and an accommodation rate of 51.5 percent.