Qingdao has made significant progress in developing tourism since the implementation of the reform and opening up policy, especially in the 1990s. A complete product system and industrial structure have taken shape in the tourist in dusty, which has hence become a new increase pole of the national economy. In 1998, Qingdao hosted 199.5 thousand foreign tourists, earning foreign exchange of 0.102 billion US dollars. Domestic tourists received amounted to 10.13 million with the total revenue of 6 billion RMB. The total income from tourism accounted for 7.8 percent of the city's GDP.
Qingdao is famous for its beautiful natural sceneries, rich cultural attractions, multi-national architectures in distinctive styles, long religious culture, colorful festivals and celebrations.
Qingdao's tourist industry has already developed into a standardized service system, covering the six major elements of "transportation, accommodation, dinning, shopping, sightseeing, and entertainment", and integrated with the international practice. There are 136 travel agencies, with 12 conducting international business. There are 38 star rated hotels in Qingdao, of which 2 are five-star ones. The number of people directly employed in tourist industry is more than 40 thousand, that of those indirectly employed is 240 thousand. The fixed assets amounts to 10 billion.
The infrastructure of the tourist industry of Qingdao is very good, especially transportation. Qingdao Port is a first-class national port. Qingdao Airport flies 7 international and regional routes to Japan, Korea, Singapore, Hongkong, and Macao, and over 30 routes to domestic cities throughout China. The land transportation is featured by the high-quality expressways and a highway network to various tourist attractions in the province, such as Mount Tai, Qufu, Penglai and so on.
In terms of the development of the tourist industry, Qingdao municipal government attaches great importance to the long-tem growth. The goal for the year 2010 is to build Qingdao into a world-famous beach resort with beautiful environment, sound infrastructure, unique tourist products, and first-class service quality for sightseeing, vacation, business, cultural events and sports, while preserving the historical and cultural features and natural sceneries of the city in light of reasonable exploration of the resources and the coordinated development of the tourism and the social economy.