Tourists explore Shengsi Islands in Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/IC]

The provincial development and reform commission of Zhejiang published a plan to transform the province into a "big garden" in the Yangtze River Delta region at the 2019 International Islands Tourism Conference in Zhoushan on Aug 29.

According to the plan, Zhejiang will build 10 island parks and design different tourist routes according to the distinct scenery and cultures of the islands.

Zhejiang is home to 4,350 islands, a sea area of 260,000 square kilometers and a coastline of 6,696 km. Statistics show that islands in the province received a total of 52.13 million tourists last year, generating revenue of more than 66.9 billion yuan ($9.34 billion).

"We will develop a variety of tourism activities, including sightseeing, sports and study tours in Zhejiang, hold more major international conferences and competitions and develop some of our islands into leading international tourist destinations," said Xu Xing, deputy director of the provincial development and reform commission of Zhejiang.