The popular coastal resort city of Sanya
Shanghai was the No. 1 tourist source for the popular coastal resort city of Sanya in south China's Hainan Province, according to statistics from April and May provided by the Sanya Tourism Board on Monday.
Sanya had an average of 90,000 visitors from Shanghai per month in April and May. The Sanya-Shanghai route was one of 21 priority air routes, and more flights are scheduled to be added, the board said.
Currently, there are 15 flights per day from Shanghai's two airports to Sanya.
The board said most of the Shanghai tourists were aged between 18 and 35, accounting for almost 45 percent of the total. The numbers were up 28 percent from the previous two months.
Over 20 tourism-related enterprises are participating in commercial negotiations in Shanghai as part of the Sanya Tourism Board delegation.
During the May Day holiday, Shanghai was also the No. 1 offshore duty-free shopping source market for Sanya.
On Monday, a team led by the Sanya Tourism Board met with their counterparts in Shanghai and briefed them on the island's new tourism development trend.
Meanwhile, more than 70 percent of hotel rooms on the island have been booked for the summer holiday.
"We expect the summer vacation this year to be even busier than last year when the occupancy rate exceeded 90 percent," said Albert Yip, director general of the Sanya Tourism Board.
Water sports are popular in Sanya
Summer break is often the busiest travel season in China, with more than 60 percent of visitors to Sanya traveling with children.
So far, Sanya has seen a 10 percent increase in tourists this year compared to last.
"We are optimistic, and the trend is upward and encouraging," Albert stated.
A beach in Sanya
This year, Sanya will begin a series of international tourism promotion campaigns in Japan, South Korea, Russia and Southeast Asian countries.
China unveiled a master plan in June 2020 to transform the entire island of Hainan into a globally influential and high-level free trade port by the middle of the century.
According to Haikou Customs, the province's duty-free stores earned a total of 16.9 billion yuan (US$2.34 billion) in the first quarter of this year, a 14.6 percent rise year on year.
Sales of offshore duty-free stores in the province are expected to exceed 80 billion yuan this year, as per the provincial government's work report for 2023.