(Photo/Chinanews.com)

China’s marine economy contributed over 8 trillion yuan ($1.19 trillion) to national GDP in 2018, rising 6.7 percent from the year before, according to a report released by the Ministry of Natural Resources on Thursday.

He Guangshun, head of the China Oceanic Information Network, said that on average, the total production value of China’s marine economy had doubled every six years between 2001 and 2018, and that the proportion of the marine economy within national GDP has remained at over 9 percent for more than 10 consecutive years.

“The marine tertiary sector has already become the main driving force behind the marine economy, and its added-value has accounted for 58.6 percent of the total production value of the marine economy,” He disclosed.

“Coastal tourism has remained the dominant growth point of the tertiary sector, contributing 23.5 percent to the growth of the marine economy,” he added.

At the same time, China has also fostered new growth engines in marine power generation, marine biomedicine, and seawater utilization, seeing the added value of these industries grow by 12.8 percent, 9.6 percent, and 7.9 percent on a year-on-year basis.