The rushing trend has awakened the long-sleeping island. In August 2016, the State Council approved formally the Plan for Pingtan International Tourism Island Construction, which remarked that Pingtan has been the second international tourism island after Hainan Island being the first one in China. In the past five years, Pingtan strode forward to build as an international tourism island at a firm pace. It has took lead in carrying out institutional mechanisms, policy measures, marketing, and business integration by adhering to the concept of “modern and pristine development”, to boost the high-quality development of Pingtan tourism.
Now, Pingtan has renewed itself as an international island with leaves and flowers in all seasons. “Pingtan Blue” is regarded as a shining point of Fujian tourism by the sea. After five years of exploration and practice, Pingtan is walking on a broad path featuring its distinct difference with making high-level plans, high industries standards, and introducing high-level talents.
Pingtan, actively benchmarking against the international standards, introduced well-known planning agencies at home and abroad to make an overall plan for the land and space of the island, a detailed plan for scenic spots and a special plan for six major scenic spots, rural tourism, and smart tourism. It aims to build a development blueprint with multiple plans which could link with each other in an organized way.
Tourism standards were unveiled initially to regulate foreign-invested tourism agencies, inbound tourism services, Taiwan guide services, and the classification and evaluation of homestays in the local place.
Pingtan established the most streamlined administrative management system and “1+3+N” management system, which is leading by tourism ministries, comprehensive management administrations, law enforcement, regulators, etc., and introduced the main enterprises for the tourism investment, development and operation, forming a “four-in-one” governance system, which includes leadership and decision-making, department management, operation, and special supervision.
It adopted a flexible method to introduce talents, establish experts think tank, famous tour guides and experts bank, and tour guide talents bank in Pingtan International Tourism Island and attracted nearly a hundred experts and scholars from well-known universities, scientific research institutes at home, and abroad and executives from the leading enterprises to provide intellectual support for the construction of Pingtan International Tourism Island.
After a series of reforms and innovations, Pingtan has established a new sustainable development mechanism full of vigor and efficiency. It activates its dormant development potential from the entire island, and consolidates multi-dimensional and multi-level development synergies forming a comprehensive coordinated mechanism with the linkage of various departments and the participation of the whole society, which has been an inexhaustible motive force driving tourism development.
Pingtan has successively amplified the breadth and intensity of marketing and promotion in multiple channels and forms by means of “Movie + Tourism” and “Sports + Tourism”, including organizing a wide variety of coastal-style events such as the Pingtan Kiteboarding Grand Slam and Pingtan China International Cycling Open Race, etc.
Since 2017, the film and TV industries have gradually become an “important tipping point” and “cultural support point” for the development of Pingtan, attracting many film and TV and variety shows to shoot in Pingtan. The siphon effect of industrial agglomeration is constantly emerging, and batches of film and TV shows follow. The implementation of the film and TV projects also lays a solid foundation for the construction of the Pingtan film and TV platform, the supply of film and TV talents, and the gathering of film and TV industries.
Pingtan shows its charm and vigor by means of “bringing in” and “going global”.
Pingtan, focusing on the cultivation of the “Refreshing Fujian, Pingtan Blue”, not only held various special tourism promotion conferences in Beijing, Qingdao and some other places but also set several centers for publicizing in Three Lanes and Seven Alleys in Fuzhou and Airports in Xiamen.
It has held “China-Islands Countries Ocean-related Ministerial Roundtable”, Symposium on the Austronesian Archaeology in China, and the Special Promotion Conferences of Pingtan International Tourism Island in foreign countries, such as the United Kingdom, France, the United Arab Emirates, Greece, Japan, etc.
Pingtan, through communicating and exchanging with a variety of countries to strengthen its influence and appeal, established its featured brands with its dreamy “Blue Tears” in Tannan Bay, China’s Archaeological Ruins of Keqiutou (Neolithic ruins), Stone Houses, seafood, etc., while improving its unique fame and reputation.
Weng Bin, the deputy head of Tourism, Culture and Sports Bureau of Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone, said that we would extend the industrial chain by strengthening extending and improving it to develop marine travel, healthy travel, and countryside tour and enrich the activities of entertainment and sports and shopping to create comprehensive cultural tourism projects, promote the production system integrated with culture and tourism and construct a pilot city for the development of the production integrated with culture and tourism. We would develop a batch of integrated tourism products such as sightseeing factories, research bases, low-altitude flight tourism, Eco-tourism, etc. to form integrated whole-chain tourism and cultivate tourism clusters featured with Pingtan style.
