Partnerships with business leaders from Hong Kong in the field of modern services are crucial to helping Yantai grow, said Zhang Jiangting, Party chief of the coastal city in Shandong province.

At this year's promotion fair in Hong Kong, Yantai will highlight its high-tech marine economic zone, a newly designed zone located in the eastern part of the city.

The focus this year is on attracting more investment to such sectors as financial services, tourism, real estate and logistics, according to the Yantai Bureau of Commerce.

"The modern service sectors in Yantai have the greatest potential for development. Last year, the foreign capital in the sectors accounted for 34 percent of the city's total foreign capital," Zhang said.

"Hong Kong-backed projects play an important role in Yantai's modern service sectors," Zhang noted.

Of the 30 contracts signed by the Yantai government or local companies at last year's promotional fair in Hong Kong, more than 20 focused on service sectors, according to statistics from the Yantai Bureau of Commerce.

Yu Dong, the head of the Yantai Commerce Bureau, said the municipal government will offer preferential policies for companies in modern service sectors to attract investment.

The output value from the city's service sectors ranked third in the province last year, totaling nearly 192 billion yuan ($31 billion), said Tian Xurun, director of the city's office for service industries.

Tourism accounted for a large share of this revenue. More than 45 million tourists from China and abroad visited the coastal city last year, an annual increase of 14.9 percent. These tourists spent 47.55 billion yuan in Yantai, up 17.9 percent.

Logistics revenue totaled 27 billion yuan last year.

The ports in Yantai transported 270 million tons of cargo last year, an 11 percent growth over the previous year. And 1.85 million twenty-foot equivalent units of containers were shipped, up 8.3 percent.

This year, the Port of Yantai will open direct sea routes to Pyeongtaek in South Korea to strengthen its shipping capacity.

By Zhao Ruixue

zhaoruixue@chinadaily.com.cn