By 2030, Zhejiang’s waterway passenger volume will exceed 61 million, as the province launches its “Boating in Zhejiang” integrated transportation–tourism brand.

Recently, the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Transportation and the Provincial Department of Culture, Radio, Television, and Tourism jointly issued the "Zhejiang Province Waterway Transportation and Tourism Integration Development Action Plan (2026–2030)" (referred to as the "Plan"), proposing that by 2030, Zhejiang's waterway passenger volume will exceed 61 million, forming a basic framework of "Four Belts, Ten Chains, and a Hundred Pearls" for waterway transportation and tourism integration, and fully establishing the provincial transportation and tourism brand "Boating in Zhejiang."

According to the "Plan," Zhejiang will aim to build a high-level transportation powerhouse and a demonstration province for all-region tourism, focusing on the theme "Travel with Transportation." A three-tier cross-departmental coordination mechanism at the provincial, municipal, and county levels will be established. Efforts will be made to secure various types of national policy funding, innovate investment and financing models, attract social capital to participate in waterway cultural tourism project development, promote the tourism-oriented transformation of transportation functions, enhance the quality of transportation and tourism services, diversify product formats, and achieve integrated development of rivers, lakes, seas, and landscapes. This will lead to the integration of water, boats, scenery, and products, fostering deep integration of transportation and tourism, and revitalizing water-based cultural tourism consumption.

Focusing on the development blueprint, the "Plan" outlines seven major directions with a total of 20 key tasks, covering the improvement of the waterway transportation and tourism network, enrichment of waterway tourism products, and cultivation of waterway consumption scenarios. In terms of spatial layout, Zhejiang will focus on creating four major development belts: the Ancient Charm Qiantang Poetry and Painting Belt, the Millennium Canal Cultural Belt, the Oujiang Landscape Poetry Road Belt, and the Marine Sightseeing Scenic Belt. It will establish five major product systems: urban tours, landscape tours, island tours, ancient town tours, and cultural tours. Additionally, it will cultivate ten waterway tourism consumption scenarios, such as boating for sightseeing and stargazing at night. A "Boating in Zhejiang" city brand matrix will also be built, with each region leveraging its unique water system characteristics to create differentiated water-based cultural tourism IPs.

According to the development goals, by 2030, Zhejiang will create three benchmark waterway tourism routes: the Millennium Grand Canal, Hangzhou's "Three Rivers and Two Banks," and Zhoushan's "Blue Island Chain," while cultivating 30 boutique routes. Fifteen "micro-renovation and refined improvement" waterway transportation and tourism projects will be completed. Zhejiang will also host over 100 "Boating in Zhejiang" brand promotion activities, establish the Hangzhou Waterway Transportation and Tourism Integration Pilot Zone, and continuously enhance the economic contribution and visitor satisfaction of waterway tourism.