Authorities of Pingtan, Fujian province together with the 2014 Miss World champion Rolene Strauss, announce at an inauguration ceremony that the Pingtan International Tourist Island project began, Dec 3. [Photo/ptnet.cn]

Authorities of Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone (PCPZ), Fujian province announced at an inauguration ceremony the launching of the Pingtan International Tourist Island project on Dec 3, according to ptnet.cn.

What could be more wonderful than this was that the 115 participants of the 2015 Miss World Final became the witness of the event. With the mission of introducing the county's tourism resources to the world, the beauties were commissioned as image ambassadors for the Pingtan International Tourist Island at the ceremony.

Officials in Pingtan, Fujian province commission 115 participants of the 2015 Miss World Final as image ambassadors for Pingtan International Tourist Island and give them certificates, Dec 3. [Photo/ptnet.cn]

Xu Weize, director of PCPZ's administrative committee said that the inception of this project was to follow President Xi Jinping's calls who mentioned building an international tourist island in Pingtan during his inspection of the county, last year.

Xu added that local authorities made continuous efforts to push ahead the development of the county's tourism, for instance, through rolling out a series of preferential policies on tourism and offering stronger support to tourist programs. Over the past few years, they launched the construction of tourist sites such as the Haitan Ancient City, developed more shipping routes such as the Haixia ferry and established large shopping malls.

With the idea of turning Pingtan into a world-class resort for sports, leisure and entertainment, authorities will take advantage of the county's island location and explore and develop its unique onshore and offshore tourism resources, said Xu.