As "China Travel" continues to trend across overseas social media, with foreign visitors' camera-documented glimpses of real China becoming a viral phenomenon, Sanya is turning this global spotlight into a city-wide gesture of genuine hospitality.

Starting July 2026, Sanya has launched its "Passport Friendly " Initiative consumption-boosting campaign, themed "Travel China, Starting From Sanya | GO CHINA IN SANYA," offering exclusive privileges to inbound visitors holding a valid foreign passport or a Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Residents. This is more than a consumption drive for inbound tourists — it's also an opportunity for merchants to tap into global traffic and take their brands abroad. One passport unlocks city-wide privileges; one storefront joins a worldwide flow of visitors.

To date, 45 partner merchants across the city have joined the program, including 31 hotels (21 under six major international hotel groups — Marriott, IHG (InterContinental), Hyatt, Accor, Ascott and Rosewood — plus 10 domestic brands), 5 key scenic attractions, 6 commercial entities and 3 duty-free operators, with the partner network continuing to expand.

Behind this "China Travel" boom lies an ever-expanding visa-free "circle of friends." According to the National Immigration Administration, 22.914 million foreign nationals entered China in the first half of 2026, up 20.4% year-on-year. For Hainan, with Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam joining Hainan's 30-day visa-free list on August 20 — layered on top of nationwide visa-free policies — citizens of 88 countries can now enter Hainan visa-free. In the first year of the Hainan Free Trade Port's full closure operation, Sanya welcomed 716,100 inbound visitors in the first half of the year, up 50% year-on-year — significantly outpacing the national inbound tourism market's overall growth rate — with inbound visitor spending reaching US$673 million, up 70% year-on-year.

📈 From Traffic to Loyalty: Visitors Are the Best Ambassadors

Against this backdrop, the "Passport Friendly" Initiative is built around a core loop — "seeding content overseas → driving offline traffic → in-store spending → secondary sharing" — using an extremely simple verification process to turn inbound visitors into city ambassadors and shopping-district customers.

Inbound visitors holding a valid foreign passport or a Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Residents can post positive, original content about Sanya on overseas social media (such as TikTok, YouTube or Instagram) tagged with #GoChinaInSanya, and claim a free exclusive perks package at participating shopping districts — unlocking extra discounts on duty-free shopping, hotels, attractions and retail.

Since the program launched, the share of foreign customers at partner shopping district Sanya Joy City has exceeded 30%, with foreign card spending accounting for 28% of transactions; at CDF Sanya International Duty Free Shopping Complex, the number of inbound visitors has grown fourfold year-on-year, with spending up more than threefold.

🎁Merchant Empowerment: What Do You Get by Joining?

Every partner merchant that joins the program becomes a "Passport Friendly" partner, gaining comprehensive support:

1️⃣ Precision Customer Acquisition: Working with travel agencies, airlines, the Phoenix Airport port and 26 Sanya Tourism Promotion Liaison Offices overseas, the program drives traffic and promotion through multiple channels, delivering travel and culture information and building an always-on promotional presence that spans online social media reach and offline outreach services.

2️⃣ Unified Brand Empowerment: A full set of "Passport Friendly" visual identity materials (logos, standees, poster source files) is provided, supporting merchants' own creative adaptations while unifying the city's visual identity and boosting international recognition.

3️⃣ Cross-Media Promotion Network: Program content is distributed frequently and in multiple languages across the board, covering leading media both on and off the island, with the opportunity to be featured and reprinted by central state media and top-tier government accounts — having already been published on the front page of China Daily's headline section. The program also draws on the @VisitSanya overseas social media network, overseas media partnerships and international KOL resources to deliver precision promotion for partner merchants.

🤝Built Together, Shared Together: What's Expected After Joining?

1️⃣ Setting Up Offers: Beyond everyday discounts and membership promotions, offer "stackable privileges" that support extra discounts on top of existing offers.

2️⃣ On-Site Placement: Use LED screens, entrances, escalators, atriums, parking areas and other key locations to consistently display unified visual-identity posters and promotional videos, alongside coordinated online promotion.

3️⃣ Dedicated Service: Set up a dedicated "Passport Friendly" service counter in high-traffic areas such as the service desk or atrium, displaying the official signage, staffed with foreign-language personnel or equipped with smart multilingual translation devices, responsible for verifying documents, confirming posts, distributing perks packages and answering questions.

4️⃣ Multilingual Signage: Produce foreign-language signage, including Russian, with optional enhanced services such as foreign-language audio announcements where feasible.

📲 How to Sign Up

Interested businesses are welcome to scan the QR code to register:

Sanya "Passport Friendly" Initiative
We look forward to having you join us.