Chinese tourism hotbed Hainan is set to welcome a new Hello Kitty-themed amusement park worth US$1.6bn (€1.4bn, £1.3bn).

A press conference was held by China’s State Council to promote the project. The park will be called Hainan Hello Kitty Paradise and is aiming to engage families with a child-centred focus.

It's one of 12 key pilot projects being built on Hainan Island, with the popular tourist hotspot expecting to exceed 2 million overseas visitors in 2020, with more than 60 million Chinese visiting the destination annually already.

The park’s location will be Haitang Bay, in Sanya, and it is being built by Hong Kong’s Fude Group Holdings, which is headed by Pan Jiade, son of the popular entrepreneur Pan Zhengzhou.

Pan Jiade has been involved in a number of Hainan projects, such as the 435-bedroom Grand Hyatt Sanya Haitang Bay.

There is currently a park based on Hello Kitty in China in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province. Another was slated for Shanghai and was due to open in October, however, things have gone very quiet on that project since its announcement last year.