The plan was disclosed by Wang Fuyu, deputy secretary of the provincial committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Party secretary of Haikou City, at a meeting of the municipal Party committee.

Wang said they hoped development of new scenic sites would helppromote urban construction in Haikou and lay a solid foundation for a faster tourism growth.

New scenic sites to be constructed include a geological park based on a volcano crater, parks for tropical marine creatures, tropical wildlife, tropical plants, mangroves, as well as an international film town.

Urban infrastructure in Haikou, has improved enormously thanks to a combined investment of 50 billion yuan (6.02 billion US dollars) since Hainan became a province in April 1988.

Hainan, where the seawater is China's cleanest and the climate is subtropical, has become one of China's most popular tourist destinations.

Haikou, the provincial capital located at the northern end of the island province, hosted 4.11 million tourists in 2002, up 7.99percent from 2001, and earned about three billion yuan (361 million US dollars) from tourism industry, up 11 percent.

(People's Daily March 22, 2003)