A longer stay means more recreational demands and services, and that requires the local government to speed up development of infrastructure and recreational facilities, which is now one of the major tasks outlined by the provincial government.

Petersen said it takes partnership among local governments, hotels and other stakeholders to upgrade local tourism. While government can build more infrastructure, hotels can offer insightful data and information to them to facilitate decision-making, as hotels are more sensitive to tourists' demands and market trends.

He said the top-notch hotels of the future will be more digital and mobile, allowing a guest to check in and make orders simply by using a cellphone.

"For the first time in China we applied 4G technology to support the WTTC global summit and that's going to be the norm in the future," he said.

Future hotels should be able to offer an "ecosystem" for tourists, a small world where guests can satisfy almost all of their recreational demands and find detail-oriented services, he added.

"One can go shopping, swimming, diving and enjoy other fun-seeking activities within a small community. It's a whole package and one-stop service," he said.

Tourists coming to China will have more choices in the future, said Petersen, adding that China's ongoing market-oriented reforms and further opening-up will relax controls in resource sharing.

China is going to be a glamorous resort, and it's not an "if" issue, but a matter of when and where, he said.