The Qingdao Municipal Sports Bureau, the Qingdao Municipal Tourism Committee and the city's commerce bureau signed a strategic cooperation agreement on Jan 19 to promote the coordinated development of the coastal city's modern sports industry with tourism and commerce.

Qingdao Municipal Sports Bureau, Qingdao Municipal Tourism Committee and the city's commerce bureau sign a strategic cooperation agreement on Jan 19 to promote the development of "sports industry + tourism + commerce". [Photo/Qingdaochina.org]

According to the agreement, the three government agencies will guide every field of society to focus on and support the integrated development of sports, tourism and commerce, as well as extend relevant industrial chains to provide more diversified sports and tourism products to Qingdao residents.

The eastern coastal city of Qingdao is an emerging center of the sports industry. Its football teams Jonoon and Hainiu are in the Chinese First League. The city is also the hometown of ping-pong world champions Zhang Jike and Chen Meng.

But sailing is more in the spotlight than any other sport in Qingdao. Since the early 2000s, the city has been the host port for many international sailing events including the 2008 Olympic Sailing Regatta, the Extreme Sailing series, the Clipper Round the World Race and the Volvo Ocean Race.

At present, the sport industry is growing rapidly in Qingdao as a result of the introduction by relevant watchdogs of favorable policies to promote its development. In 2016, the total sport output of the city was 41.3 billion yuan ($6.01 billion) with an added value of 14.04 billion yuan.