Recent official data showed that the annual tourism revenue in the city of Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province, amounted to 105 billion yuan ($15.1 billion) in 2019, up 11 percent year-on-year.

Last year, the city received more than 70 million tourists, a year-on-year increase of 11 percent.

The two figures both hit record highs thanks to the city's efforts to integrate culture and tourism, according to the Zhoushan Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film, Television, Tourism and Sports.

In recent years, the city has been working industriously to promote the integration of culture and tourism and boost the local homestay industry.

By the end of June 2019, the city had more than 3,200 inns with homestay services and over 13,170 employees in the homestay industry. In the first half of 2019, the total revenue of the industry was about 1 billion yuan, 27.5 percent higher than the same period in 2018.

"In 2019, my inn earned nearly 1.6 million yuan by providing homestay services to more than 1,000 tourists," said Li Jiajun, the owner of a luxurious homestay inn on Shengsi Island.

Li decided to enlarge the inn, open a branch and build a small cluster for the homestay industry in an effort to provide visitors with immersive experiences.

"Moving forward, the city will continue to focus on culture and tourism integration, and establish a complete industrial chain," said Xu Hai, deputy director of the municipal bureau of culture, radio, film, television, tourism and sports. "It is expected the city will receive over 75.5 million tourists, bringing in 111 billion yuan in tourism revenue in 2020."