Construction of Pingtan International Tourism Island Begins to Take Shape

During the past golden week starting from October 1, Pingtan Island of Fujian Province received 853,000 tourists, with an increase of 30.24% on a year-on-year basis. The tourism revenue reached 744 million yuan (RMB, the same below), with an increase of 51.63% on a year-on-year basis, hitting a new record.

The above data released by the Management Committee of Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Area indicates that the effects of the construction of Pingtan International Tourism Island have been further shown. In August 2016, the State Council officially approved "Pingtan International Tourism Island Construction Plan," thus making Pingtan Island China's second international tourism island following Hainan Island.

As tourism products are getting plentiful and tourism infrastructural facilities are constantly improved, the appeal and popularity of Pingtan tourism has continuously been enhanced. During the golden week since October 1 this year, the operation of Northern Pingtan Ecological Corridor and Houyan Island attracted a lot of tourists. The windmill, the beach, the glass plank road, the matchless seascape, as well as the coastal mountain road with Pingtan characteristics have become new choices and experience for tourists traveling in Pingtan and they have become new popular places tourists must visit in Pingtan.

As of now, 12 villages with rural tourism features, including Dongmei Ancient Village, Beigang Cultural and Creative Village, Austronesian Languages Cultural Village, and 4 leisure towns of rural tourism have been transformed and upgraded. Pingtan boasts a few famous places including one 4A tourist area, one national marine park, one national geopark, and nine national scenic areas.

According to Pingtan tourism sector, unique Pingtan rural views in Beigang, Tanshui, Xiaobei, Maotouqian attracted a lot of tourists during the National Day holiday. These places received a total of nearly 200,000 tourists, accounting for about 25% of the total number of tourists in Pingtan.

Rapid increase of tourists benefits from the improvement of tourism infrastructural facilities in Pingtan. In the past, Pingtan people relied on ferries to go to and leave the island and the traffic fell behind. Nowadays, Pingtan has completed a large number of infrastructure projects on water, electricity, roads, bridges, ports, terminals, municipal administration, greening, and functional parks.

According to Chen Shanguang, Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Area, the highway of Pingtan cross-strait road-rail bridge, China's first bridge of this kind, will be open to traffic by the end of this year or at the beginning of next year, and the high speed railway will be put into operation next year.

In recent years, Pingtan has strengthened ecological civilization construction. Adhering to the development concept of "using modern technology plus keeping the original," Pingtan has carried out coastal beach protection and management, as well as prevention and control of air, water and soil pollution, and closed Liya Shipyard, the largest industrial enterprise on the island. The water quality in main water sources within the island has been up to the standard of Class Ⅲ. At the beginning of this year, the construction of Northern Pingtan Ecological Corridor with a full length of about 30 kilometers started and is expected to be completed in the first half of next year, becoming another view of Pingtan.

"Pingtan Impression," the large-scale stage play directed by Yang Liping, has been performed around China for 89 times. The "blue tear" wonder unique to Pingtan has attracted a lot of tourists. During the May 1 holiday this year, it attracted nearly 200,000 tourists.