Coastal resort city sees tourism recovery

Sanya, a coastal resort city in South China's Hainan province, has seen tourism recovery recently as China further optimized its COVID-19 prevention and control measures in December.

The local government and enterprises have jointly launched a series of active measures to revive the tourism market, so as to fully attract tourists, release the potential of tourism consumption, and restore the vitality of Sanya's tourism market.

Since the New Year's Day holiday, the average occupancy rate of tourist hotels in Sanya has exceeded 75 percent, an increase of nearly 9 percentage points from the previous month. Among them, in Haitang Bay and Yalong Bay, which are home to a number of five-star hotels, the average occupancy rate of hotels remains around 85 percent, which is more than 7 percentage points higher than the previous month, according to Sanya Tourism Promotion Board.

In order to attract young tourists, since December last year, Sanya Tourism Promotion Board has cooperated with local enterprises to launch a series of activities, including the finals of a model competition and wedding festival, which enhanced Sanya's attraction to the young generation, and strengthened Sanya's brand image of younger and internationalized tourism.

In addition, in order to boost the overall tourism sales growth and destination brands as well as market confidence in Sanya, Sanya Tourism Promotion Board and China's leading online travel agency Trip.com Group, formerly known as Ctrip, are to carry out a series of livestreaming activities from early January to mid-January. These activities will combine the advantages of Ctrip's platform and tourism enterprises in Sanya to jointly launch high-quality preferential pre-sale tourism products, and accelerate the revitalization of tourism enterprises and the market in Sanya.

Hotels and scenic spots in Sanya have also launched abundant themed activities and preferential products for the New Year and Spring Festival tourism market.

"As policies continue to be optimized, the willingness of tourists to travel has recovered, boosting the confidence of the whole industry. We will seize the opportunity of the Spring Festival holiday to launch more preferential products to help the industry revive," said Zheng Conghui, chairman of the Sanya Tourism and Culture Investment Group.

Xu Xiangyu, senior director of the marketing and public relations department of the Atlantis Hotel in Sanya, said that the hotel has made planning arrangements in advance for the Spring Festival holiday, and will launch several events, including fireworks, a pink bazaar, a wonderful parade, and parties for the guests.

At present, some of the hotel's rooms for the Spring Festival have been sold out, and the booking rate is still rising, Xu said.

"Through the orders we received, we can feel that the confidence of guests from across the country has been restored, and the heat continues to rise," Xu said.