HAIKOU, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Sanya, China's
southernmost tropical city, is attracting the eye of more and more foreign
tourists with the official launch of a regular passenger line by Star Cruises,
one of the world's largest luxury cruise operators.
More than 1,000 tourists on the Super Star Virgo
under the flagship of Star Cruises, arrived at the tourist hotspot in Hainan
Province around midday on Monday and spent about eight hours enjoying the
beautiful coastal scenery .
Sanya is a stop on Super Star Virgo's regular Hong
Kong-Sanya-Vietnam-Hong Kong route. The city's frontier inspection station said
the cruise planned a total of 24 arrivals at Sanya from April 14 to October 22,
or once a week.
The scenic island of Hainan, dubbed China's answer to
Hawaii, is aiming to develop itself into a world-class tourist hotspot, although
its international fame currently still cannot match that of Hawaii.
Hainan will build itself in line with the standards
for international tourist destinations by improving tourism management, staff
quality and infrastructure, says Zhang Qi, Hainan Provincial Tourism Bureau's
director.
With a landmass area of 34,000 square kilometers,
Hainan was established in 1988 as a province and approved to be a special
economic zone enjoying preferential development policies.
Last year, the island hosted 18.4 million tourist
arrivals from both home and abroad, reaping 17.1 billion yuan (2.4 billion U.S.
dollars). The tourist number and revenue were 24 times and 150 times
respectively greater than those of 1987.
"Currently accounting for 14 percent of the island's
gross domestic product, tourism has become a most promising sector in the
island's development," says Chen Yao, the provincial tourism bureau's deputy
director.
As of now, three major international passenger liners
-- Carnival Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean International and Star Cruises, have
all opened routes with a stop in Sanya.
The number of foreign tourists to Hainan has been
rising rapidly over the past few years, thanks to a series of tourism promotion
activities abroad.
Last year, the island hosted 750,000 overseas
tourists, a year-on-year increase of 22 percent. The goal is 880,000 overseas
tourists this year.
Despite the rapid growth of tourist numbers, tourism
authorities admit there is still a long way to go for the island to become a
world-class tourist destination.
"Due to a late start and poor foundation, Hainan's
tourism management level and matching environment currently still lag behind
those of famous hotspots such as Hawaii and Phuket," says Chen Yao.
The management, personnel, and overall environment
still need to be improved in order to reach international standards, he says.
Hainan has about 7,000 tourist guides, but only 600
of them can speak foreign languages.
The tourist guide management center of Sanya said
more guides are now busy receiving foreign language training programs.
"Hainan will strive for more opening in exit and
entry and aviation rights policies, and flexibility in tourism project
approvals, to attract more overseas tourists," says Hainan's Communist Party
chief Wei Liucheng.
Chi Fulin, China (Hainan) Institute for Reform and
Development's executive president, says it is a right time for Hainan to
internationalize its tourism industry.
"Tourism has become one of the fastest growing
industries in the world. And China has said it will be the world's largest
tourist destination by 2020. Tourism will gain more government support."
For Hainan, its own distinctive resource, improved
infrastructure and management, have provided a historical opportunity for the
construction of an "international tourist island", Chi says.
