China's Zhejiang to build sea island parks

Photo taken on Sept. 16, 2020 shows a view of Shatangwan Village, Xiangshan County, Ningbo City of east China's Zhejiang Province. (Xinhua/Jiang Han)

East China's Zhejiang Province, which boasts the most sea islands among the country's provincial-level regions, is building some of its scenic islands into tourist draws in efforts to boost its tourism sector.

Construction is underway to transform 10 islands off the coast of Zhejiang, including Xiangshan and Putuo, into parks, according to the Zhejiang provincial culture and tourism department.

The projects are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2022, the department said.

The parks are expected to provide about 200,000 jobs for local residents and receive up to 100 million visitors annually after completion.

Zhejiang announced plans to build sea island parks in 2019. So far, more than 100 billion yuan (about 15.5 billion U.S. dollars) has been invested in construction projects.