When Siberia Meets a Tropical Island Sanya Expands Its Reach in Russia and Mongolia
🌴 Summer Travel Begins and Sanya Reaches North
As the Northern Hemisphere enters its peak summer travel season, Sanya is looking far beyond its tropical coast. From July 10 to 14, the Sanya Tourism Board joined Sanya Phoenix International Airport and local tourism businesses on a promotional visit to Ulan-Ude, capital of Russia's Republic of Buryatia. Their focus was on visitors from Russia and Mongolia. The Ulaanbaatar–Sanya–Ulan-Ude route, operated under fifth-freedom traffic rights, provided an air link between Siberia and the South China Sea coast.
✈️ A Fifth-Freedom Route and a New Liaison Point
The route makes use of fifth-freedom rights, which allow an airline to carry passengers and cargo between two foreign countries as part of a service originating in its home country. It links Mongolia's capital, Sanya and Russia's interior in one journey. This connection lets Sanya bring its tourism promotion closer to potential travelers in Russia and Mongolia.
During the visit, the Sanya delegation met with the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Buryatia and established a liaison channel. It will serve as a continuing point of contact in Russia's Siberian region for exchanging tourism information, promoting each other's resources and directing visitors between the two markets. The aim is to make Sanya's promotion there more focused and sustained throughout the summer and beyond.
🎵 Meeting Future Visitors at a Music Festival
A popular Buryat music festival gave Sanya another way to introduce itself. Organized by a philharmonic institution under the Republic of Buryatia's Ministry of Culture, the event attracted many international visitors. Sanya set up a themed exhibition featuring images of its tropical coastline, wellness holidays and locally inspired cultural products. Some of the photographs had been taken by Russian travelers on earlier visits to Sanya, lending the display a personal touch.
The festival carried Sanya's message as a place to live comfortably and explore in every season to local audiences. Visitors stopped to ask about the destination and added the island to their holiday plans. With a convenient air route in place, interest in Sanya can more readily become an actual trip.
🤝 Working with Mongolian Travel Businesses
The delegation also met Mongolian airlines and travel agencies, including Hunnu Air and MU Travel. Talks covered reliable flight operations, jointly designed multi-stop itineraries and coordinated overseas promotion, all aimed at making travel to Sanya easier for Mongolian visitors.
The route offers travelers from both Ulaanbaatar and Ulan-Ude a more direct way to reach Sanya and discover the destination often called the “Hawaii of the East.” Linking aviation and tourism can turn air connectivity into more international arrivals and bring new energy to the summer market.
🌏 Building Long-Term Connections
A liaison point, a festival showcase and direct meetings with travel businesses formed the three parts of Sanya's Ulan-Ude visit. Together, they put its aviation and tourism cooperation strategy into practice.
Zhang Hao, deputy director of the Sanya Tourism Board, said the city would continue to make use of the Ulan-Ude liaison point and the route's transport advantages. It plans sustained cultural and tourism exchanges and destination promotion in Russia, Mongolia and other key markets, encouraging more international visitors to move from hearing about Sanya to experiencing it, while supporting inbound tourism in the Hainan Free Trade Port.
This summer, a route, a music festival and face-to-face conversations have opened a new path from Siberia to Sanya's tropical shore. The next journey may begin with a moment of curiosity. Sanya is ready to welcome its visitors.