Sixteen island counties in China are cooperating in a nationwide island travel program and hope to create a China Island Travel brand.

The National Island Joint Conference was held in Changdao County in Shangdong Province this past week. Sixteen counties from Liaoning, Shandong, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong have agreed to form an organization to develop the travel industry among their areas.

The group will set up a China Island Travel Association to provide more convenience for these concerned counties to communicate with each other and to make full use of each other's tourism resources and management.

At present, China has more than 6500 islands with a total area of 80,000 square km.