The Hubin Pedestrian Sreet in Hangzhou's Shangcheng district is bustling with people every night. It has been designated as one of the 50 key business sites across the province for the development of the nighttime economy. [Photo/zj.zjol.com.cn]

East China's Zhejiang province recently designated 13 pilot development zones and 14 other potential development zones from across the province to focus on developing the nighttime economy in a government document jointly released by the Zhejiang provincial departments of commerce, public security, finance, natural resources, construction, and culture and tourism, as well as the province's sports bureau.

The zones' main nighttime business areas, 50 in total, were also specified in the government document.

The provincial government will evaluate the overall performance of each pilot zone in developing a nighttime economy before the end of 2021 and will evaluate the 14 other candidates by the end of 2022. All of the zones are encouraged to make full use of their respective cultures, concentrate on well-known retailers of popular and time-honored brands, blend online and offline business, develop popular nighttime consumption areas, and integrate the development of nighttime retail, tourism, entertainment, and sports.

The 13 pilot development zones for developing the nighttime economy are Xiacheng and Shangcheng districts in Hangzhou, Haishu and Jiangbei districts in Ningbo, Lucheng and Ouhai districts in Wenzhou, Nanhu district in Jiaxing, Changxing county in Huzhou, Yiwu city and Wucheng district in Jinhua, Luqiao district in Taizhou, and Putuo district in Zhoushan.