Province's tourism flourishes

Tourism in Hainan, a tropical island province in South China, has flourished since the central government decided to help it become an international tourist destination in 2010.

The province attracted about 53.36 million tourists last year, a year-on-year growth of 11.4 percent. Countryside tourism in Hainan attracted nearly 6.75 million people in 2015, an increase of 12.39 percent from 2014.

Hainan's tourism revenue amounted to about 57.25 billion yuan ($8.86 billion) in 2015, up 13 percent year-on-year. Revenue from countryside tours was approximately 1.78 billion yuan.

Hainan launched and resumed 19 international air routes to countries and regions including South Korea, Thailand and Singapore last year. It also organized tourism promotions in Italy, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Romania and Greece.

Direct flights connecting Hainan and Russia, which had been suspended for almost a year, were resumed on March 5. The first 12-hour flight carried 247 Russian tourists from Moscow to Haikou, the capital city of Hainan.

The air route is expected to transport about 2,000 Russian tourists to Hainan monthly, local officials said.

The province approved a plan to boost inbound tourism in December. According to Zhou Ping, vice-director of the Hainan Tourism Development Commission, through the plan, Hainan will provide more subsidies to important air routes and improve its support for the aviation sector.

Zhou said Hainan would organize several more promotions focusing on the province's key tourism services, both domestically and abroad this year.

The provincial government will annually earmark a further 20 million yuan for tourism promotions from this year. Such subsidies in 2020 are planned to reach 140 million yuan.

In 2015, online promotions were carried on the BBC website, Facebook, Twitter, Hong Kong-based video providers and Google. Hainan tourism advertisements were placed in nine countries last year, including Russia, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore.

The province also boosted promotions of local hotels, golf and hot springs in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan last year, Hainan's tourism officials said.

The government will also financially support tourism companies' participation in overseas exhibitions and other promotions abroad. It plans to spend 10 million yuan yearly rewarding businesses that do well in boosting inbound tourism.

Local officials said Hainan province aims to attract more than 80 million travelers in 2020, including more than 1 million inbound visitors. The province's tourism revenue in 2020 is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan, they said.