The 2014 "Fairy Coast" (Yantai) International Tourism Marketing Fair was held at the Haiyang Tourist Resort on Oct 30, 2014.

The fair attracted 70 travel agencies and e-commerce representatives from Russia, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, as well as 80 representatives of localtourism enterprises.

The three-day tourism marketing fair included travel agency tourism promotion and a launch ceremony of the new Yantai website. Sun Dongming, director of the management committee of Haiyang Travel Resort, introduced the resort's rich tourism resources, especially winter tourism products.

What impressed the participants most was the great development of Yantai's smart tourism. The tourism website brings more convenience to visitors traveling in Yantai. In addition to providing tourism information, the website also highlighted Internet marketing. In addition, the Yantai tourism bureau cooperated with Kulv Travel, an online travel service portal, to jointly promote Yantai's specialties.

A total of 156 agreements on tourism were reached at the fair, involving 130 million yuan ($21.06 million) in value. The agreements involved 85 tourism chartered flights, 10 Tianjin-Dalian-Yantai chartered ships and six cruises. Meanwhile, 40,000 visitors in 380 groups from Singapore, South Korea, Russia, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan were expected to visit Yantai.

The event also invited online media to visit and take photos of Yantai, Haiyang, Penglai, Longkou, Zhaoyuan and Qixia.

Yantai has focused on developing its tourism industry and has formed a series of tourism products featuring coastal fun, wine recreation and marine sports.

According to Xiao Zhiyang, president of Taiwan XO International Travel Service Co, weekly flights from Taiwan to Yantai have increased from two to nine, indicating Yantai’s popularity among Taiwan people.

In autumn, tourists could amuse themselves by picking Yantai apples and Laiyang pears in winter, skiing, bathing in hot springs and tasting wine.

Sui Juan, manager of the Asia-Pacific department of Qingdao Heyi International Travel Service Co, said Yantai wine has enjoyed popularity from Qingdao tourists. Tours from Qingdao to Yantai have become more convenient thanks to the opening of the Qingdao-Rongcheng high-speed railway.