Free skies

ECO-BUILDING: The Sanya River provides tourists with beautiful scenery to enjoy (SHI YAN)

According to Chen, since Hainan is an island, airplanes have become the major transport vehicle for domestic and international tourists to arrive and depart. To facilitate the growing number of tourists, the province has opened air traffic rights, which limit the number of air carriers that can provide flights to or fly over a certain destination, since 2003. Hainan currently has the most open skies in China.

Opening traffic rights gives every airplane that flies over China permission to land at either of Hainan's two international airports and then take off after loading or unloading passengers or cargo.

"The biggest beneficiary from opening Hainan's traffic rights is the tourism industry. Since opening the traffic rights has relieved transportation limits, the number of international tourists is growing rapidly," Chen told Beijing Review.

Prior to 2003, Hainan was connected to the rest of the world by only five international air routes. After traffic rights were opened, the number of international air routes increased to 44. Now, 25 domestic and international airlines offer flights connecting Haikou or Sanya with more than 20 countries. As a result, from 2003 to 2009, the number of foreign tourists increased at an average annual rate of 30 percent.

To attract foreign tourists, Hainan adopted a visa-free policy in 2000 for 21 countries, including the United States, Canada, Russia, New Zealand, Britain, Germany, Japan and Singapore. Tourist groups of five or more from these countries are allowed to enter Hainan without visas and stay for 15 days. Individual tourists can get a visa after arriving, which takes just 20 minutes to process.

By 2012, Hainan will further extend its visa-free policy to five other nations, including Finland, Denmark, Norway, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Moreover, tourist groups from Russia, South Korea and Germany will be allowed to enter Hainan visa free. The duration of the stay will be extended from 15 days to 21 days.

Statistics showed in 2001 only 12,000 tourists from 21 countries visited Hainan via the visa-free channel, but in 2008, the number soared to 200,000. From 2001 to 2008, a total of 670,000 overseas tourists visited Hainan visa-free, accounting for 60 percent of the visitors entering China via ports in Hainan. Visa-free has become the major channel for foreigners to travel to Hainan. Haikou, Sanya, Qionghai and Wanning each have their own duty-free shops within the urban area to service international shoppers.

After the visa-free policy is extended, the number of tourists from the 26 visa-free countries is expected to reach 1 million in 2012, Chen said. This is a qualitative leap for the internationalization progress of Hainan's tourism industry.

By the end of 2012, Hainan will extend the visa-free policy to certain nations in northern Europe and central Asia to attract tourists from these regions.

Hainan is also looking to add international air routes to its repertoire. The provincial government plans to increase the number of international air routes connecting Hainan to 60 by the end of 2012, expecting to attract an additional 50 domestic and international airlines and set up a new airport—Boao Airport—within the next five years.

Hainan's Ideal Location

Population: 8.1 million

Area: 35,000 square km

Capital city: Haikou, at north latitude 20'03"and east longitude 110'10".

Climate: tropical ocean climate—relatively high temperatures and strong winds throughout the year.

Average temperature: 23-25˚C