Malaysian tourists fourth largest in Hangzhou
HANGZHOU, Zhejiang Province: Hangzhou city received 140 million tourists last year and they contributed RMB257 billion in tourism receipts, said Foreign Affairs and Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of Hangzhou Municipal Government director Dong Zude.
Among the large number of tourists flocking to the capital city of Zhejiang province, 3.63 million were international visitors.
“The number of Malaysian tourists to Hangzhou has increased by 6.45 percent from 102,000 in 2015 to 106,700 last year.
“Malaysian visitors are the fourth largest source of tourists for Hangzhou,” he said during a dialogue session with a media delegation from Sabah.
Meanwhile, Dong said, the number of Hangzhou travelers to Malaysia has also risen by 124.3 per cent from 22,700 in 2015 to 53,200 in 2016.
Hangzhou city is the economic, cultural, science and education centre of Zhejiang province. The city covers a total area of 16,596 square kilometres (sq km), of which the urban area takes up 4,876 sq km. It is the crossing point of the Silk Road Economic Belt extension and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, as well as a strategic hub along the Online Silk Road. Hangzhou was the host of the G20 Summit held on September 4-5, 2016.
As of 2016, Hangzhou resident population stood at 9.19 million, which showed a growth of 170,000 residents compared to the year before. Last year, Hangzhou registered RMB1.1050 trillion in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a growth of 9.5 percent. Hangzhou is also a renowned tourism city, having two national-level scenic areas, namely, the West Lake and ‘Two Rivers and One Lake’ (referring to Fuchun River, Xin’an River and Qiandao Lake); two national-level tourist resorts (Zhijiang National Tourist Resort and Xianghu Lake National Tourist Resort); Xixi National Wetland Park, two national nature reserves and nine national forest parks.
The city also has 39 National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units and six national museums.
Dong added that Hangzhou was also hailed as having the best bicycle-sharing system in the world, with more than 80,000 public bicycles made available to the public.
Hangzhou International Expo Centre
Besides being selected by the New York Times as one of the ‘Top 50 Places to Go Around the World in 2016’ in January last year, Hangzhou was also listed among the ‘Global Top 100 International Conference Destination Cities’ by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) in May 2016.
On this trip, the media delegation visited the Hangzhou International Expo Centre, which served as the main venue, news centre and security centre of the G20 Summit on September 4-5 last year.
The massive Hangzhou International Expo Centre sits on a 190,000 square metres land and boasts a built-up area of 850,000 square metres, comprising five above-ground levels plus two underground levels. The expo centre integrates retail shops, office units, hotels, food and beverage outlets and tourism.
Since Hangzhou was selected as the host for the G20 Summit in early 2015, the Chinese government only had a year to give the expo centre a facelift in preparation for the event. It was reported that up to 20,000 workers were involved in refurbishing the existing Hangzhou International Expo Centre at any one time in order to complete to job within the short time frame, and that figure has not included government officials and professionals.
Upon arriving at the expo centre, the media delegation were first brought to a meeting hall on the second floor where Chinese President Xi Jinping shook hands, exchanged greetings and posed for photos against the national flags of the G20 member states. The G20 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States of America plus the European Union.
Next is the main conference hall on the fourth floor where the opening ceremony and meetings of the G20 Summit was held. The impressive main conference hall measures 45 metres in width and length, which totaled approximately 2,000 square metres in size. The roundtable at the centre where the leaders of the respective G20 countries were seated measured 45 metres in width and 45 metres in length. The roundtable alone stretches more than 30 metres in diameter.
Highly meticulous planning and thorough detail had gone into renovating and decorating the conference hall. The hall reflects the beauty of China, which the country wanted to present to the foreign dignitaries, from the intricate wood sculptures depicting the top 20 scenic views of China and old photographs of the West Lake adorning the walls.
There are also four imposing giant pillars in the shape of the Chinese character for ‘20’ in the hall to represent the discussion of win-win cooperation among the countries.
On top of that, the posture of each leader seated at the roundtable were taken into consideration in order to tailor the arch of the lumbar cushions for optimal back support. As for women leaders, a foot rest and a tiny stool for handbag are provided.
Prior to the event, personnel even went down on their hands and knees to sniff for any foul smell in the newly-installed carpet. Once, the working staff even launched an operation to capture a rat which had found its way into the conference hall, to prevent the rodent from damaging the wires during the event.
The media were subsequently taken to The Luncheon Zone and rooftop garden on the fifth floor. The Luncheon Zone is located in a spherical building 60 metres in diameter with a built-up area of 2,500 square metres.
The hall allows natural lighting to shine through while layers of Chinese ink paintings hanging from the ceiling are not only for aesthetic purposes, but also for acoustic absorption.
Meanwhile, the rooftop garden at 45 metres above ground is hailed as the largest of its kind in China with a size of 65,000 square metres.
The uniquely oriental garden, from its landscape, bridge and architectural design, emanates tranquility and serenity.
The venue of the G20 Hangzhou Summit was officially opened to the public on September 25 last year. As of May this year, more than 750,000 domestic and foreign visitors have turned up to view the venue where the summit took place.