As temperatures in northern China plummet, Sanya enters its traditional peak season, welcoming a continuous stream of tourists. Recently, Sanya held a media briefing to announce the city’s tourism development and market trends in 2019. This year, Sanya tourism has shown new vitality with numerous highlights, achieving the dual goals of "booming visitors and revenue," and introduced policies to tackle "exorbitant airfares" and "sky-high hotel prices" to support peak-season travel.
Across-the-Board Growth in Tourism Data, Rapid Increase in Inbound Visitors
According to the media briefing, from January to October this year, Sanya’s tourism data achieved double-digit growth in both metrics. The city received 18.1458 million overnight tourists, a year-on-year increase of 10.04% on a comparable basis, generating total overnight tourism revenue of 45.502 billion yuan, up 11.78% on a comparable basis. Overnight inbound tourists reached 699,600, a 23.3% rise, with foreign exchange earnings from overnight tourism totaling 599.9711 million US dollars, a 30.01% increase.
Crowds Flock to Sanya’s Attractions and Beaches
The top ten sources of international tourists include Russia, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Hong Kong (China), Malaysia, the United States, Singapore, Germany, and the United Kingdom. From January to October, Sanya hosted 214,400 Russian tourists, a 31.12% increase; 91,700 from South Korea, up 74.69%; 3,300 from Malaysia, a 175.63% rise; 1,900 from the United States, up 38.36%; and 1,600 from Singapore, a 100% surge—demonstrating across-the-board rapid growth. It was reported that on November 16, 2019, Sanya Phoenix International Airport’s international (regional) passenger throughput exceeded 1 million for the first time, marking a historic milestone since its opening and ushering in a new chapter in Sanya’s civil aviation history.
Behind the General Rise in Tourism Data: Breakthrough Growth in Diverse Sectors Like Duty-Free Shopping, Yachting, Weddings, and Conventions
Sanya’s yachting and sailing industry is trending toward mass and high-end development, growing rapidly and becoming one of the new forces driving tourism consumption. According to incomplete statistics, from the beginning of this year, there have been 69,700 vessel trips and 1.4619 million passengers traveling by yacht or sailboat in Sanya.
Expanding the “Friend Circle”: Five Major Marketing Strategies Boost Sanya Tourism
This year, Sanya has focused on product development, media promotion, channel engagement, platform exchanges, and route expansion as key marketing strategies to continually enhance the international profile of Sanya tourism. In September, Sanya successfully hosted the inaugural Greater Sanya Tourism Product Innovation Design Competition, launching 50 premium tourism routes as the main offerings for expanding the tourism market within the Greater Sanya circle. These will serve as key promotional products for both domestic and international audiences. For the summer season, Sanya launched the “Cool Summer” promotion campaign, including over 100 distinctive tourism products such as “free entry for children under 6 to scenic spots, free extra beds at hotels, and half-price entry for accompanying mothers,” effectively ensuring strong off-peak performance. Additionally, starting in October, Sanya initiated its 2019 Winter Tourism Marketing Campaign themed “Sunny Winter, Warm Sanya,” promoting along 22 key source cities along the “Beijing-Sanya” and “Changchun-Sanya” railway lines via special tourism trains, and introducing train tour and winter travel packages.
Since 2019, Sanya has leveraged mainstream media by strengthening partnerships with major platforms such as EuroNews, BBC, People’s Daily, China Tourism News, and People’s Daily Online to boost tourism promotion.
Moreover, Sanya has continued to expand its aerial “friend circle.” As of now in 2019, 20 new international (regional) routes have been launched, 3 international routes have been increased in frequency, and a total of 41 international (regional) routes are currently in operation, forming a global air tourism network covering “4-hour, 8-hour, and 12-hour” flight reaches.
Surge in Large Events and Competitions Drives Growth in Comprehensive Tourism Consumption
Both residents and visitors have clearly noticed that Sanya is hosting more large-scale events and competitions, with increasing standards and sophistication, further highlighting the city’s international and fashionable image.
Since 2019, Sanya has successfully hosted more than 30 government-led major events and competitions—including the 2nd ISY Sanya International Music Festival, the 4th Asian Rainbow Awards, the 2019 Free Trade Media Conference, the 2019 Hainan (Sanya) International Marathon, the 2019 Formula E Championship Sanya Round, the 2019 10th Round-the-Island (Sanya) International Regatta, the 2019 (7th) Sinan Cup Regatta, the 2019 Hainan Open Golf Championship and European Tour Challenge, the 3rd Sanya World Yoga Exchange Conference, the 3rd Sanya International Fashion Week, and the 23rd China Sanya Tianya Haijiao International Wedding Festival, as well as the 2nd Hainan Island International Film Festival—and over 100 corporate-organized cultural, sports, and festival events. These have attracted approximately 4 million citizens and tourists, generating over 800 million media impressions. Beyond their high caliber and large numbers, these events closely align with consumption hotspots, becoming new drivers of consumption booms.
Mechanism Innovation: Cracking Down Hard on “Sky-High Hotel Prices” and “Exorbitant Airfares”
In May this year, Sanya established its first tourism industry association federation and its first municipal-level tourism quality assurance committee, forming a comprehensive management mechanism called the “1+16+1” tourism industry association model, consisting of the “Tourism Industry Association Federation + 16 specialized associations + Quality Assurance Association.” This has created a new tourism governance model based on “one guiding policy,” “one supporting system,” and “one unified effort,” adding new momentum to the transformation and upgrading of Sanya’s tourism industry.
The arrival of the winter-spring tourism peak season has injected a shot of adrenaline into Sanya’s tourism market. Multiple departments have jointly taken proactive measures to comprehensively address long-standing pain points in tourism shopping that have drawn frequent complaints from visitors. They have continuously innovated governance strategies to safeguard the Spring Festival golden week, explicitly stipulating that “tourism shopping spots receiving multiple visitor complaints shall not be included in travel agency group itineraries,” while also screening the integrity of all shopping spot managers, with joint disciplinary actions imposed on those found engaging in dishonest practices.
Sanya’s Tourism Police Always Ready to Protect Visitors
Furthermore, in response to speculators and hoarders attempting to manipulate Sanya hotel room rates and popular inbound-outbound flight routes, leading to phenomena such as “sky-high hotel prices” and “exorbitant airfares,” Sanya has innovatively introduced governance measures. These require all tourist hotels to display clearly marked prices at the front desk, with no price exceeding 20% above online (OTA) rates. The maximum fare for inbound flights is subject to a record-filing system. Coordination has also been made with airlines such as Hainan Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, and Spring Airlines to operate charter flights during the peak season, thereby reducing pre-Spring Festival inbound airfares.