More visitors are enjoying in the rich experience of Suzhou.

Opportunities: tourism ushers in a new era

Since 2009, Suzhou has improved parking lots and public toilets' districts and tour sectors have implemented appraisal on from tourist project funds and policies to the building of parking lots and renovation of public toilets. Suzhou government manages the tourism industry comprehensively and boosts its development by pooling resources.

Suzhou mayor Zhou Naixiang said during an investigation that Suzhou will follow a policy of "pleasing residents and satisfying tourists" by integrating urban construction and tourism development.

Suzhou is a leader in tourism in China. At present, there are 142 starred hotels in the city, of which 30 are five-star hotels, ranking third behind Beijing and Shanghai. There are 61 A-grade scenic spots, including six 5A scenic spots, the second highest number in China. Suzhou also has the most industrial and agricultural tourist sites of any prefecture-level city nationwide.

In 2013, Suzhou's tourism revenue hit 152.29 billion yuan ($24.58 billion), with 94.16 million domestic tourists and 1.44 million overnight tourists. Chinese tourists stayed 1.85 days and foreign tourists stayed 4.04 days in Suzhou in average. It has ranked first in tourists' satisfaction for three consecutive years.

In addition, Suzhou has built two national demonstration zones for business and ancient city tourism.

The city makes great efforts to brand itself as a tourist destination.

Path: the city adopts precision marketing to build a world-class destination

Tourism products and services that satisfy market demand are essential to build a world -class destination, and innovative marketing is necessary to attract visitors. Suzhou has explored a path for precision marketing.

It takes full advantage of foreign media, professional institutes and social networking to build images, broaden channels and popularize products. In addition, Suzhou's government engages third parties to evaluate promotion programs.

Currently, Suzhou is building a website in the USA to introduce Suzhou to North America.

Suzhou scheduled ad campaigns on BBC’s North American and European channels, distributed Lonely Planet Suzhou worldwide, and built a microsite on the Lonely Planet's website. The tourism bureau also consulted the top 50 travelling salesmen in North America to promote Suzhou tourism.

It will jointly run a Facebook account and a Twitter account with an integrated marketing agency to attract overseas travelers.

Cooperating with the world's largest travel website Tripadvisor, Suzhou interacts with potential tourists across the globe through 40 sub-sites on Tripadvisor, the world's largest travel website, in 21 languages. About 200 million active users visit these sub-sites every month.

So far, Suzhou has a travel website in four languages and a microsite that sells specialty products. It also runs two accounts with millions of fans on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, and WeChat, the country's most popular messaging and social media app.

Linger around Suzhou

The city has an ancient and profound culture; therefore, it develops its tourism by giving full play to the advantage and integrating city construction and tourism development.

* Cultural ancient city

Suzhou, one of China’s most famous cities, has a unique culture heritage and tourism resources. A national demonstration zone was set up in June 2014 to protect the ancient city, where tourists can enjoy water scenery, wander about the streets and appreciate the nightlife. Visitors can have a cup of tea, listen to storytelling and singing in Suzhou dialect, watch Kunqu opera, stay at a garden-style hotel or an inn, try local snacks and experience local life.

* Tourist resorts

Yangchenghu Peninsula Tourist Resort reaches international standards, relying on its perfect traffic system and one package service.

Thanks to the pleasant scenery, Suzhou has ten tourist resorts, one of which is at the national level.

* Personalized services

Suzhou rolled out a personalized service on WeChat on April 2014, making it easy to visit the Humble Administrator's Garden, the largest of all classical gardens in Suzhou.

The Humble Administrator's Garden opens at 6:30 am, free of crowds. A tour guide on cheongsam introduces the garden in detail and brings you to taste Suzhou snacks and listen to stories, singing and opera in Suzhou dialect. Other scenic spots, like the Master-of-Nets Garden and the Lion Grove Garden, have diversified services as well.

* Local services

Suzhou municipal tourism bureau released the Suzhou pass, a prepaid card for one-day or multi-day tours in 2013. It aims to provide safe, convenient and intelligent services for tourists.

Cardholders can use the Suzhou Pass to receive discounts for travel, shopping, entertainment, accommodations and transport.

Online consulting services are provided on websites, and social media to share Suzhou’s latest information, introduce activities, answer questions and offer travel guides.