From tailored tours to educational group activities, Jiang has also used social media platforms, like Douyin, to promote tourism.

With about 500 kilometers of coastline, Xiapu is home to numerous islands, where people can enjoy splendid mudflat landscapes, traditional fishing techniques, fishing boats and breathtaking sunrises and sunsets. It has become a popular destination for tourists and photographers, and provides ample evidence of how tourism has transformed a rustic county into a trendy seaside resort.

The boom has resulted in local government investment in the development of photographic vantage points and other infrastructure.

Boasting a rich maritime landscape, Xiapu had received nearly 11 million visitors from January to October, an increase of 26.23 percent from the same period last year, according to the latest official statistics. The travel boom brought tourism revenue of more than 11.8 billion yuan ($1.62 billion) to the county, data shows.