Marine tourism boom fires up summer travel

Equipped with a "5G+ marine ranch" smart management system, it produces 150,000 kilograms of premium seawater fish annually and welcomes more than 150,000 visitor trips each year.

Similar tourism-driven growth is surging in many places along China's coastline.

In Zhelin Bay of Raoping county, South China's Guangdong province, the Xi'ao fishery-tourism platform, covering more than 3,000 square meters, features specialty restaurants, a seaside cafe, starry-sky cabins and boutique seaview guestrooms.

At the ocean pastoral fishery tourism park on Nanji Island in East China's Zhejiang province, visitors stroll along suspended floating walkways above the sea and enjoy recreational fishing.

In Haitang Bay of Sanya, South China's Hainan province, night fishing has emerged as a new coastal scenario combining sightseeing, cuisine and social interaction. The local "night fishing plus dining" projects have lifted the nighttime departure rate of recreational fishing yachts from less than 30 percent to more than 95 percent.

The diversification of marine tourism has extended leisure activities well into the evening, and driven a rise in demand for related industries, including water sports equipment.

At Hetong (Weihai) Sporting Goods Co Ltd in the city of Weihai in Shandong, production lines are operating at full capacity as workers rush to complete a batch of inflatable paddleboards destined for overseas markets.

"The popularity of water sports tourism has fueled strong order growth," said Wang Yongfeng, the company's general manager. "Our shipments exceeded 90,000 paddleboard sets in the first half of the year, up 150 percent year-on-year."

Liu Zhiqing, deputy general manager of Weihai Heliyuan Carbon Fiber Technology Co Ltd, said the company's production capacity in 2026 has expanded three to four times compared with previous years, with water sports equipment now accounting for 55 to 60 percent of its total carbon fiber sales.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, China's gross ocean product exceeded 11 trillion yuan in 2025, up 5.5 percent year-on-year and accounting for 7.9 percent of the country's GDP.

Against this backdrop, China is cultivating the marine economy, including marine tourism, as a new growth engine.

Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, said, "The ocean is a foundational resource and an emerging market for the modern tourism industry, as well as a new strategic space for China's efforts to build itself into a world-leading tourism destination."

He called for stronger market connectivity, industrial cooperation and policy coordination to build a coordinated marine tourism landscape featuring closer land-sea integration and differentiated regional development.

XINHUA-CHINA DAILY