Summer tourism innovation boosts consumption recovery in Hainan

HAIKOU - South China's Hainan province, a thriving tourist destination, has witnessed a bustling tourism market throughout the 2023 summer vacation, accelerating the recovery of its tourism consumption.

This summer, "citywalk" has risen to prominence among numerous tourists visiting Hainan, especially the younger generation. It offers visitors a "follow-your-heart" approach to slow-paced travel, allowing them to be immersed in the charm of a city while wandering through its streets and alleys.

In Haikou, the capital city of Hainan, a tourist surnamed Wang from central China's Henan province was admiring the historical Qilou buildings in the century-old streets, with a camera in hand.

"The buildings here boast a distinctive and historical charm. They are well worth strolling through," she said.

She believed that slowing the pace, delving into the streets and alleys, and especially interacting with the locals and savoring local delicacies, was the best way to truly experience the unique style of a city and the lifestyle of its people.

Besides the popularity of "citywalk," Hainan has also leveraged its abundant tourism resources to promote a deeper integration of tourism with sectors including sports, weddings, entertainment, and duty-free shopping, which has led to more new tourism forms and products.

Jiang Yuwei, a graduate from East China's Shandong province, traveled to Hainan with his girlfriend. Half of their time has been spent surfing in Riyue Bay in the city of Wanning, a famous surfing spot in this tropical island province.

"I really enjoy the freedom and excitement of surfing. I hope to fully enjoy the few holidays I have before entering the workforce," he said.

At a yacht tourism center in Sanya, a resort city in Hainan, tourists are eager to board the neatly lined up yachts.

Liu Chen, a tourist from East China's Zhejiang province, just returned from her yacht excursion with great excitement. She said apart from enjoying the sea view, she also tried activities like jet skiing and sea fishing.

In recent years, with the rapid development of the wedding industry in Sanya, the city has become a preferred destination for wedding photoshoots and honeymoon travel.

"We came to Sanya specifically for a wedding photoshoot because we want to capture the best seaside scenes for our wedding photos," said Jin Sheng, a soon-to-be-married traveler from Northeast China's Liaoning province. "We also bought duty-free items like gold jewelry, watches and cosmetics at the Sanya International Duty Free City for our wedding."

Given the integration of tourism with other industries, more consumption potential has been released to spur the tourism consumption in Hainan.

Concerts and sport events in particular have generated significant foot traffic, becoming engines that directly drive consumption in the transportation, hotel, catering, and shopping sectors.

From late June to early July, a concert by pop singer Jay Chou in Haikou attracted a large number of fans. After the concert, visitors like Zheng Sisi and her friends from Guangdong Province extended their stay in Haikou, exploring the charm of the coastal city. "Haikou is a city full of vitality and this trip is definitely worth it," she remarked.

According to official data, the four-day concert attracted a total audience of 154,600, generating tourism revenue of 976 million yuan ($133.87 million).

"CunVA," or village volleyball, has become the latest sports craze, with its roots in the vast countryside around the city of Wenchang. Local authorities revealed that a series of matches held over a six-week period had drawn over 400,000 spectators, resulting in comprehensive tourism revenue of 260 million yuan.

Furthermore, as an enduring hallmark of Hainan, duty-free shopping has become a major driving force of tourism consumption as well.

Hainan at the beginning of July launched the two-month 2023 Hainan International Duty-free Shopping Festival, offering more than 30 promotional activities to deliver diversified shopping experiences, and thus stimulated the vitality of duty-free shopping.

According to Haikou Customs, from January to July, Hainan recorded total offshore duty-free sales of 28.93 billion yuan, with nearly 4.2 million shoppers purchasing over 34 million duty-free products on the island.