China's resort island of Hainan receives over 81m tourists in 2021

More than 81 million domestic and overseas tourists visited South China's tropical island province of Hainan in 2021, equivalent to 97.5 percent of visits in 2019, local authorities said Tuesday.

Hainan's total tourism revenue reached about 138.4 billion yuan (about $20.4 billion) during this period, up 30.9 percent from 2019, the provincial government said at the press conference.

Offshore duty-free shopping made a big contribution in this regard. From 2019 to 2021, the total sales of duty-free shopping in Hainan totaled over 100 billion yuan.

By the end of 2021, the province had set up 10 offshore duty-free shops and introduced over 1,400 international consumer brands, according to the provincial government.

China aims to build Hainan into an international tourism and consumption center by 2025 and a globally influential tourism and consumption destination by 2035.