The resort, in Xietun township in Wafangdian, a county-level city under the administration of Dalian, has the biggest indoor water park in Asia and the first water-curtain movie in Northeast China.

The resort also has outlet stores covering more than 50,000 square meters, 18 hotels and a neighborhood for retired people.

The resort ended Northeast China's history of having no world-class tourism complexes. A number of travel agencies have integrated the resort into tourism itineraries that include rural culture, festivals and springs.

Agencies released new tours for visitors from Northeast China, Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei province, the Yangtze River and Pearl River deltas, South Korea and Japan, who make up the majority of tourists to Dalian.

Li Jingping, director of the Dalian Tourist Bureau, said the city made substantial progress in building a well known tourist destination in Northern China. Dalian earned 67.63 billion yuan in revenue from the tourism industry from January to July, a 13.1 percent increase year-on-year. Among the 34.98 million visitors to the city, 585,500 who stayed overnight were from overseas.

"In the next step, the Dalian Tourist Bureau will accelerate large tourism projects and attract investments, focusing on streets with different characteristics, cruise tours and other important projects," Li said.

Contact the writers at zhangxiaomin@chinadaily.com.cn and huyongqi@chinadaily.com.cn

FACTS

Location: Northeast China's Liaoning province

Pillar industries: Dalian's overall industry is worth 1 trillion yuan, with strengths in equipment manufacturing, chemicals and shipbuilding. The city has achieved some success in upgrading traditional industries and cultivating new strategic industries, including marine engineering equipment, software information and new energy.

International shipments:

Dalian port deals with more than 90 percent of the region's foreign trade goods. The port has more than 100 domestic and international shipping lines that connect with more than 300 major ports around the world. The port's annual cargo throughput reached 420 million metric tons in 2014.

Big projects:

? The city started 157 projects, each demanding investment of more than 100 billion yuan, during the first half of this year.

? Between January and June, Dalian approved the establishment of 116 new foreign companies with total contract value of $1.77 billion.

? During the period, 14 companies were invested in by foreigners, with more than $10 million each, with total value of $1.59 billion.