Yantai--International City of Grapes and Wine

Author: Chen Junping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-03-01
Features: Yantai boasts abundant tourism resources, including the nationally renowned cultural landmark, Penglai Pavilion; the enchanting scenery of Yangma Island; the marine amusement park, Changdao Island; the Weibei inscriptions on Wenfeng Mountain; Zhiyu Island, where Qin Shi Huang visited three times; Kunshan Mountain, the birthplace of Chinese Taoism; Qimu Island, the hometown of Xu Fu; numerous sea bathing beaches; and picturesque coastal bays with natural landscapes and historical and cultural relics. Based on these rich resources, Yantai has formulated a tourism master plan layout of "Three Zones, Ten Scenic Spots, One Belt, Four Cities, Five Parks, and Six Routes." The city aims to develop ten major tourism sightseeing spots centered around three tourism zones: Jinshantian, Yangma Island, and Penglai Pavilion. It will also develop a coastal tourism sightseeing belt stretching from Lanshou Sanshandao in the west to Muping Yangma Island in the east. Four cities will be built, including the China Folk Culture Expo City, Huanghai Amusement City, Tashan Competitive Amusement City, and Zhiyu Island Seafood City. Five parks will be constructed and improved, such as the World Water Scenery Park, Nanshan Park, Yantai Mountain International Ocean Park, Paotai Mountain Park, and Yuhuangding Park. Six hot routes will be opened, including the Qin Shi Huang East Tour Route, the Sino-Japanese Friendship Xu Fu Eastward Crossing Route, the Jiaodong Folk Tourism Route, the Fairyland Tourism Route, the Cultural Relics Tourism Route, and the Sea Six Island Tourism Route. Currently, the city has implemented this plan through various financing channels and development methods, ensuring healthy and orderly development of tourism resource development.
Yantai is located in the eastern part of Shandong Peninsula, bordering the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea, with a coastline facing Japan and the Korean Peninsula. It is one of China's first coastal open cities and serves as an international port, commercial, and tourism city within the Bohai Rim economic circle and East Asia. The city has a coastline of 909 kilometers. Surrounded by mountains and the sea, Yantai enjoys a pleasant climate with mild winters and cool summers, with an average annual temperature of around 12°C, making it a famous summer resort and leisure destination in northern China.
Currently, the city has basically formed a three-dimensional land-sea-air transportation network: the airport is a Class I open port with international routes to South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Macau, and Hong Kong, as well as domestic routes connecting major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Haikou, Dalian, Shenyang, Harbin, Chengdu, Kunming, Wuhan, Jinan, and Xi'an, with over 120 weekly flights. At sea, it is connected to ports in over 100 countries for cargo transportation and has international passenger ferries to Gunsan and Busan in South Korea. Domestically, there are passenger ferries, roll-on/roll-off vessels, and fast boats to Dalian, Tianjin, Qinhuangdao, Lushun, and Yingkou. On land, the railway network is extensive, with passenger trains to Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Jinan, Qingdao, Weifang, Zibo, Jiamusi, and Xi'an, as well as connections to major cities across the country. The highway network, including the Yanqing First-Class Road and Yanwei Expressway, along with dense national, provincial, and county roads, provides necessary transportation conditions for tourism development.
In 1997, the city had 53 travel agencies, including 7 international ones and 46 domestic ones. There were over 80 tourist hotels, including 25 star-rated hotels (1 four-star, 13 three-star, 10 two-star, and 1 one-star), with a total of over 15,000 hotel beds, offering a range of accommodations to meet the needs of different tourists. Commercial outlets in the city are thriving, with convenient shopping in bustling areas such as South Street, North Street, and Xinanhe River. New entertainment facilities, including food cities, entertainment centers, golf courses, and bowling alleys, have been built. Following the East Asian Cities Import and Export Commodities Fair held two years earlier, the 1997 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) International Trade Expo, hosted by the Chinese government, was held in Yantai. Jiang Zemin, the President of China, inscribed for the expo: "Equality and mutual benefit, opening to each other, common prosperity."
In 1997, the city had 523 tourism enterprises and over 60,000 tourism employees. During the Eighth Five-Year Plan period, the city received 22.88 million domestic tourists, doubling the number from the Seventh Five-Year Plan period, with a total tourism revenue of 11.5 billion yuan, an increase of 105% compared to the previous period. Among them, 193,000 overseas tourists were received, generating 700 million yuan in foreign exchange earnings. In 1998, the city received 119,700 overseas tourists, earning 62 million US dollars, with a total tourism revenue of 4.78 billion yuan.