Visa free tourists heaven in China- Hainan Island visited by 76 million tourists

More than 76 million domestic and overseas tourists visited southern China’s island province of Hainan in 2018, up 11.8 percent year on year, local authorities said Wednesday.
Hainan’s tourism revenue went up 14.5 percent over the previous year to more than 95 billion yuan (14 billion US dollars) last year, said Sun Ying, director of the provincial department of culture, radio, television and sports. In 2018, the island registered more than 140 outbound and inbound trips of cruises and yachts, receiving about 68,000 outbound and inbound tourists. The cruises to the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea made 106 trips, up 51.4 percent, and received 33,300 domestic tourists, up 90.9 percent.

The two duty-free shops, one in the provincial capital of Haikou and the other in the resort city of Sanya, received 2.88 million customers and sold over 10 billion yuan of goods, according to official data.The province has just opened two more duty-free shops, bringing the total number of offshore duty-free shops on the popular resort island to four.
China plans to build Hainan into an international tourism and consumption center by 2025 and a globally influential tourism and consumption destination by 2035.

Teeming with unspoilt, luxuriant nature, Hainan Island stays true to its natural and ethnic roots with unexpected charms. Here’s why you should visit Hainan, an idyllic but oft-overlooked vacation spot, for a short, quiet getaway.Think tropical island resorts and the usual suspects float into your headspace — Bali, the Philippines, Tioman Island, Langkawi, and whatnot. Yet along the same, beachy vein lies Hainan Island that’d probably never skip through your mind, especially not when the thought of it being a part of China alone might be off-putting for some.

But unlike the China many may perceive, Hainan is actually separate from the mainland, resulting in its own unique appeal, dotted with forests, beaches, sleepy towns and restful resorts. It’s not hard to understand why people call this little island China’s answer to Hawaii!

If your typical destinations for a beach holiday are done and dusted (or you just want to escape hoards of Singaporeans), here are 11 reasons why it’s time to give Hainan Island a chance to impress you.Naturally blessed with a coastline that stretches for days, Sanya, the southern tip of Hainan, is a buzzing beach resort hub with its 3 most popular — Dadonghai, Sanya Bay and Yalong Bay — regularly making it onto China’s top beach lists.

Authorities have made strides in ensuring the beaches remain free and open to the public, so even if you’re not shelling out for a stay at a 5-star beachfront hotel, you’re still free to revel under the sun and get lit, beaches!

For the adventurous, you can even dabble in water sports like snorkelling, scuba-diving and paragliding.What was once a cluster of over 40 volcanoes is now converted into the Haikou Volcanic Cluster Global Geopark, with people still living in 2 “lava villages” where houses are made of volcanic rock. You can also walk through lava caves from past volcanic activity, or climb up to the rim of an extinct volcano to enter the crater itself!

Yanoda Rainforest isn’t your average Bukit Timah Nature Reserve; Hainan’s tourism scene is relatively new, so obviously they’d go all out to keep you captivated all day. We’re talking hiking up waterfalls, swinging suspension bridges, ziplines, and even a chance to play real-life counter strike inside the forest in full battle gear!

Hainan’s inhabitants have historically been a diverse bunch, housing up to 36 minority groups. This has given rise to “theme parks” / museums like Binglanggu, which gives you an insider’s peek into the Li and Miao people, 2 of the most prominent minorities, the former also one of Hainan’s oldest.

Spanning over 600 football fields, the replica village houses plenty of exhibits to learn about these people — how facial tattoos form their identity, their food, customs, and clothing. You can even catch a live performance to watch those traditions come to life!A country that champions its tropical, resort-like atmosphere is bound to attract tons of luxury establishments. The good news is that you can still live like a king in Hainan without breaking the bank — get a room at 5-star hotel Raffles Hainan for as low as ~S$145/night, with a spacious room, private personal butler, swimming pool and more.The fact that flights to Hainan (see point 10) are already relatively cheap is a good reUp north, step back in time and walk through the cobbled roads of Haikou combining distinct Asian and European influences hailing from China’s colonial past, from the old streets of Qilou to picture-perfect Movie Town Haikou.

Haikou also embraces its tea culture very fervently — tea houses packed with hoards of middle-aged men chilling are also part of Haikou’s everyday life, an accurate depiction of the leisurely pace at which locals live. This also earned such tea houses the household name of “daddy teahouse” (老爸茶馆).ason to splurge a little more on comfortable accommodation!