China has more than 11,000 islands, and the potential of island tourism resources is huge. In the future, island tourism will become the engine for the development of coastal tourism industry. With the funding from China Oceanic Development Foundation, the Island Research Center of the Ministry of Natural Resources undertook the research project for high-quality development of the Chinese island tourism, which aims to analyze the current problems and bottlenecks in the development of island tourism in China, and propose solutions. According to the national requirements for the management and control of islands without residents, the Island Research Center will put forward selection criteria suitable for the development and utilization of tourist islands, and make a list of islands that can be developed and used for tourism. The project study area includes 12 islands such as Changhai County, Long Island County, Chongming County and so on as well as three international tourism islands of Pingtan Island, Hainan Island, Hengqin Island and other islands listed in the list of non-resident islands that can be exploited.

At present, the Island Research Center of MNR has completed the collection and analysis of basic island tourism information for domestic residents, and has initially formed a research report on the status of domestic island tourism. The next step is to propose the selection criteria and management requirements for non-resident island tourism development in combination with China's control policies on non-resident islands.