BOAO, Hainan, April 20 (Xinhua) -- "It's so beautiful here, it's really an enchanting town," Li Li, a tourist from China's capital of Beijing acclaimed, fully intoxicated in the miraculous sceneries in Boao, a small town in China's southernmost island of Hainan Province.

    Li was among the numerous tourists who are enjoying the sunshine, fresh air, beaches, sea, coconut trees, and also the golf courses densely spotted across the 86-square-kilometer tropical town on the eastern coast of Hainan.

    Boao, once a town with most of its 15,000 residents relying on fishing and farming to make a living, has turned into a world-famous venue of conferences after an Asian-oriented forum on economic development selected it as the permanent venue in 2000.

    "The tranquil fishing port used to be recognized only by local people, now it attracts world elites," said Xu Zhenhuan, 77, a retired lighthouse keeper who has been safeguarding Boao for half a century.

    Xu was very proud of the equipment he manipulated in the lighthouse in the 1990s, but the town is more and more digitalized in recent years to serve the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) and throngs of visitors both from home and abroad.
Flocks of tourists are busy taking photoes in different scenic spots of Boao on Thursday, especially the site of BFA, as the place will be filled up with some 1,300 political, business and cultural celebrities and journalists as of Friday when the forum kicks off its three-day annual meeting.

    BFA, viewed as a platform for exchange of views among top leaders of government and businesses, has played a key role in providing decision makers opportunities to have in-depth discussion and understanding of the most critical issues on the region's evolving agenda of sustained growth.

    The forum has geared up the local exhibition sector as more than 400 domestic and international conferences and exhibitions have been held here since 2000, said Wang Huiya, secretary of Boao's committee of Communist Party of China.
Nearly 20 projects, including some with foreign sponsors, have been launched over the past four years, involving some 300 million yuan (37.5 million U.S. dollars), thanks to Boao's growing prestige, according to Wang.

    The forum has also changed the life styles of local residents, as many rural labors are running restaurants and hotels or seeking job opportunities in urban areas, hosting an average of 5,000 tourists on a daily basis.

    More people from other regions across China have also settled here to operate tourist and service businesses, pushing the population in the town to 30,000.

    "Boao is destined to have a brighter prospect," Wang expressed his belief.

    Xu Dafu, son of Xu, chose to be a lighthouseman like his father.

    "I want to keep an eye on the rapid changes in Boao and navigate for world visitors," said Dafu. Enditem