Rich in tourist resources, Hangzhou has two national scenery spots within its territory: the West Lake scenery spot and the Fuchun River, Xin'an River and Thousand-Island Lake (two rivers and one lake) scenery spot, along with one national nature reservations: the Tianmu Mountains Nature Reservation; and 2 national forest parks: the Thousand-Island Forest Park and Daqishan Forest Park. In recent years, Hangzhou carried out the developing strategy of "large Hangzhou, large-scale tour and great industry", and has formed a travel network based on West Lake Scenery Spot, reaching Shaoxing, Ningbo and Putuo in the east, Huangshan Mountain and Jiuhuashan Mountain in the west, with Tiantai Mountain, Yandang Mountain in the south and Moganshan Mountain, Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi and Nanjing in the north.
In 1998, Hangzhou received 510 thousand foreign tourists, earning $ 210 million; 2.121 million domestic tourists, earning 14.6 billion RMB. In 1998, Hangzhou was appraised as one of the first group of "Top Tourist Cities of China" and the West Lake Scenery Spot became one of the ten model civilized scenery spots in China.
Now there are 130 travel agencies, possessing guides and interpreters in 15 languages, in Hangzhou. The city possesses over 2,500 hotels, more than 140 thousand guestrooms and over 110 foreign-related hotels, more than 17 thou sand guestrooms, in which, there are 35 star-rated hotels and 7,760 guestrooms. The construction of Zhejiang World Trade Center, etc. provides favorable facilities for international and domestic meetings, exhibitions and tours on business.
In construction, Hangzhou has made heavy investment in the city's infrastructure, with the city's outlook changing each day. From Hangzhou Airport, there are more than 100 flights each week, departing for Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Beijing, Xi'an, Guiling and other domestic cities. The railway and road traffic network of Hangzhou with that of other areas is extended in all directions. 6 pairs of special tourist trains have been put into operation, together with other two pairs making stopover in Hangzhou. In road transportation, the Shanghai-Hangzhou and Hangyong Expressways have been put into operation. In addition, Hangzhou has built passenger wharf by the canal, sending out pleasure boats to Suzhou, Wuxi and other places. In the urban area, there are 101 traffic lines of buses and trolley buses, with 7 special tourist lines leading to scenery spots. Besides, there are more than 5,000 various taxicabs. Convenient and quick telecommunication network has been built, with DDD telephone to 2,115 cities and towns (areas) and IDD to 232 countries and regions.
Till the end of 1998, Hangzhou has formed friendly relationship with 8 cities in 7 countries, which include Gifu of Japan (in 1979), Fukui of Japan (in 1982), Boston of USA (in 1982), Baguio of Philippine (in 1982), Leeds of England (in 1988), Yosu of Korea (in 1993), Nice of France (in 1998), and Paramaribo of Surinam (in 1998). Hangzhou has also formed friendly relationship with 5 domestic cities, Lhasa (in 1993), Urumchi (in 1978), Haikou (in 1988), Hohhot (in 1995) and Harbin (in 1996).