Star-hotel comfort is a growing reality in east China's Zhejiang Province with the recent opening of Nanyuan Hotel -- the province's first five-star hotel. Latest figures provided by the provincial tourism bureau show that Zhejiang has a total of 300 star hotels, including one five- star, 12 four-star and 96 three-star.

According to a provincial tourism official, the hotels are designed to provide quality services for tourists from home and abroad.

In the late 1980s, the province approved the first group of star-rated hotels in line with a state regulation concerning the star hotel classification to ensure the quality of services of the hotels.

In recent year, the province has carried out supervision and examination on service of its star-hotels to meet the fast growth of tourism industry, the official said.

Last year, the province's hotels earned 6.12 billion yuan (735 million U.S. dollars) of income, 80 percent of which was for star- hotels, he said.

The province plans to redouble its efforts and make notable progress in raising hotel service to the international standard. The province ranks fourth in China in terms of various indices for the hotel industry, the official added.