BEIJING - The total production value of China's maritime industry grew by seven percent last year, a government report said Tuesday.

The maritime economy generated 6.47 trillion yuan ($970 billion) in 2015, accounting for 9.4 percent of China's total GDP last year, according to a report issued by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the State Oceanic Administration (SOA).

Its growth has, again, outpaced that of the country's GDP, the report noted.

Maritime tourism grew 11.4 percent, it said, making it a key growth engine for maritime output.

Production value of maritime bio-medicine industry, meanwhile, saw an "outstanding hike" of 16.3 percent year on year to 30.2 billion yuan.

The marine economy is playing an increasing role in China's growth.

Earlier reports said south China's Guangdong Province has kept an average growth rate over 10 percent in its marine economy for the past five years. Coastal provinces such as Shandong and Fujian all aim to extract more growth from the sea in the next five years.

Zhang Zhanhai, head of the SOA strategic planning and economy department, told Xinhua last year that China would advance a new maritime economy development pattern by taking advantage of the Internet and big data, and at the same time improve maritime environment.