The Ningbo government has decided to implement a five-year plan to build the city into a base for leisure travel and business meetings.

The overall target of the five-year plan is to set up a sound system of products, function, marketing, management, and services, making Ningbo one of the best tourism destinations in the Yangtze River Delta with high-quality tourism environment and its own characteristics.

Under the plan, by the year 2012, Ningbo will have four leisure travel zones and 20 leisure travel bases featuring diversified products such as sightseeing, cultural experience, sports and health, and business meetings. Meanwhile, more attention will be paid to service quality and comprehensive benefits, especially to optimizing the tourist mix, extending the length of time travelers stay in the city, and increasing per capita consumption.

It is estimated that 1.4 million overseas tourists and 45 million domestic tourists will visit the city by 2012, and the total revenue will be CNY80 billion, double that for 2007.

Aiming to be a leisure travel destination, Ningbo is expected to be a city for business travel, cultural travel, and leisure travel after the plan.