Qingdao, in East China's Shandong province, was announced as a pilot zone for national cruise liner tourism development at the opening ceremony of the fourth China International Cruise Liner Summit held in the coastal city on May 17.

The city became the fourth national cruise liner tourism development zone approved by the National Tourism Administration following Shanghai, Tianjin and Shenzhen.

The setup of the cruise liner tourism zone will promote the development of the regional cruise industry and further deepen international cooperation with Japan and South Korea, as well as strengthening ties with Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, said officials from the city tourism bureau, who also believed that the zone will help with the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative and Blue Economy strategies.

The cruise industry has become one of the robust growth engines of world tourism. As an international port city, worldwide trade hub and tourist destination in northern China with 730 kilometers of coastline, Qingdao has exceptional resources to develop its cruise tourism industry.

The city has been dedicated to building itself into a cruise home port and international tourism distribution center in recent years to promote the local cruise industry.

Qingdao has also set about training a number of specialized cruise business personnel and incubating enterprises to improve the service system of cruise economy and supporting development projects. The city organized promotion and marketing at home and abroad in pursuit of promoting Qingdao as China's most influential and famous international cruise home port.

Qingdao international cruise home port was opened in May 2015, and it is expected that there will be nearly 60 cruise liners using the port in 2016.