Sanya airport passenger traffic to exceed 8,500 people over May holidays

Yalong Bay Tropical Paradise Forest Park

© Li Xueshi, Huang Qingyu/Sanya Daily

HAIKOU /China/, May 6. /TASS/. Inbound and outbound border-crossing traffic at Phoenix International Airport in Sanya (southern Hainan province) should reach over 8,500 people over the May holidays, Sanya Daily reported with reference to local border control.

Thanks to the optimized and improved visa-free policy, as well as measures to simplify entry, the inbound tourism market in Sanya began to recover rapidly in 2024, the newspaper said. A significant increase in tourist traffic was noted during the May Day holiday weekend, which was celebrated in China on May 1-5. On the first day of the holiday alone, the number of bookings for travel to Sanya increased by 92% year-on-year.

The publication's journalists talked to a family from Russia who chose Sanya as their vacation destination for the May holidays. "Our family came here to conquer mountains, watch performances and taste the local cuisine. It is very cozy here. The people in Sanya are very cordial and the service is very attentive," the publication quoted a family member as saying.

In order to attract more foreign tourists, Sanya hotels continued to optimize their services and expand the range of products offered during the holidays. For example, according to Chen Lihua, manager of Sanya Yintai Sunshine Resort, the hotel introduced a menu with halal cuisine for the May holidays, prepared special promotional packages, organized physiotherapy treatments using traditional Chinese medicine techniques and many other services for foreign tourists. "On May 1 and 2, our hotel was almost full, and the proportion of foreign tourists was more than 50%. As a rule, tourists coming on individual programs from Russian-speaking countries prevail here, there are also a small number of guests from Europe and the United States," he said.

Along with inbound tourism, Sanya authorities also seek to actively explore foreign markets. On May 1, the city's Sanya Tourism Development Commission, together with partners, launched a special gastronomic tour of the sister cities of Sanya and Dubai. Sanya Phoenix International Airport now serves flights on 15 overseas routes. These include such cities as Seoul, Jakarta, Hanoi, Almaty, Bangkok, Singapore and Moscow. There are some European cities as well, allowing local and foreign tourists to pick their travel options.