A Chinese province announced plans to develop six uninhabited islands into tourist resorts brushing aside concerns that the move may impact adverse environment in coastal areas.

"The islands are to be developed as tourist sites," Zhao Zhongshe, head of the Department of Ocean and Fisheries of Hainan Province said, stressing that no real estate projects will be developed on the islands.

An island census carried out in the 1980s showed that China had more than 6,500 uninhabited islands, or 93.8 per cent of the total number of islands.

From 2003 to 2005, a frenzy of island development swept China's coastal areas, but was later called off by the central government over conservation concerns.

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