PINGTAN, CHINA - Media OutReach - 4 October 2021 - Pingtan has embraced unprecedented opportunities since the establishment of Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone. On November 1, 2014, General Secretary Xi Jinping came to Pingtan for the 21st time and said with genuine concern: "Tourism is the greatest resource of Pingtan and it must be well protected to build Pingtan an international tourism island.", which has been kept in mind and implemented in actions.

Pingtan has actively explored and taken many pilot trials to develop tourism, which has made Pingtan widely famous. The annual tourist reception of Pingtan has increased from 537,200 in 2010 to 2,895,000 in 2016 and 3,868,100 in the first half of 2021. With the leading concept of "modern and pristine development", Pingtan's tourism brand – "Pingtan Blue" has become more and more popular and Pingtan is striding toward an international tourism island.

Enhancing infrastructure to upgrade soft power of Pingtan's tourism

The Pingtan Southern Bay Resort in autumn is marvelous as before, with tree-lined roads. Ubiquitous mobile food trucks and assembled commercial houses and even floods of visitors. But it's hard to imagine that it was a place off the beaten track just a few years ago. The transformation and upgrading of scenic spots in Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone have brought such tremendous changes.

Under the principle of "high-quality building and low-intensity developing", Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone has transformed and upgraded many traditional scenic spots – the Tannan Bay, Xianrenjing, General Mountain, Shipaiyang, and so on. The ecological parking lots, public toilets, viewing platforms, and other supporting facilities have been built. In addition, the sightseeing train, art station, music dining bar, and other special creative products have brought the scenic spots a new look.

Lin Yuchuan, the CPC representative of Tourism Group of Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone, said that 15 scenic parking lots had been upgraded, providing about 3,500 parking spaces in recent years. It has effectively solved the difficulty in parking for tourists and further improved the service and reception of the scenic spots. At the same time, the south and north ecological corridor and a countryside walkway connecting different scenic spots have been built to provide visitors with a better and more convenient environment.

Apart from infrastructure development, Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone also attaches great importance to its soft power to facilitate the high-quality and effective development of tourism. Through the big data analysis of tourism, the travel preferences of visitors can be studied and the scenic spots can provide better services and the management can be more comprehensive. In addition, Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone also actively promotes the integration of culture and tourism by introducing outstanding teams from Taiwan to carry out various colorful cultural and artistic activities. For example, the Cou ( also known as Tsou, an ethnic minority in Taiwan) Troupe from Mount Ali stationed in Tianmeiao Beach, and the Wind-blowing Artist Festival have brought new cultural hotspots to Pingtan' s tourism.

Upgrading business modes to fit various needs

Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone has made every effort to promote the upgrade of tourism mode, optimize the tourism environment greatly and enrich the tourism product system to meet the personalized and diversified needs of tourists. The highlights of tourism have emerged frequently. The south and north ecological corridors that have become a popular scenic spot in the past two years, are based on the unique tourism resources and in combination with the ecological landscape of the island. Built between the mountains and the sea, the ecological corridors, with the incredible scenery, shape Pingtan's "most wonderful coastline".

Weng Bin, deputy head of Tourism, Culture and Sports Bureau of Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone introduced that the ecological corridors include four parts – south, north, east, and west, with a total length of 195 kilometers, connecting more than 90 villages along them. Thus, it greatly revitalizes the countryside and meets the diversified needs of tourists in the era of mass tourism. In addition to the ecological corridor tourism, Pingtan also actively expands the sea tour around the island, rural special tour, and other business modes to stimulate the development of tourism.

Weng Bin said, "The brand popularity and reputation of Pingtan International Tourism Island are increasing, and its brand effect is gradually emerging. I believe that Pingtan will gradually become a happy home for compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Straits and an internationally renowned tourism island for leisure."

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