HAIKOU, November 17. /TASS/. The Sanya authorities are stepping up work on an international consumption zone and on the eve of the 14th five-year plan (2021-2025) are preparing a new set of measures to improve the quality of tourism products, reported the local administration.
"Sanya is constantly modernizing local businesses, creating new products and adopting promising methods for this. They contribute to the formation of a busier consumer tourism program, boost more intensive development of the entire industry," said in a statement released by the regional department of culture and tourism."We are preparing new tourist products and destinations for recreation, including those capable of satisfying the needs of wealthy and sophisticated tourists".
According to the department, the qualitative growth of Hainan's entire tourism industry depends on the successful development of consumer recreation.
"Since July, our island has begun to implement a new strategy on duty free shopping. As a result, in three months, that is, by October 31, sales in local duty free shops exceeded 12 billion yuan (about $ 1.8 billion at the current exchange rate), three times exceeding last year's figure," the Sanya Daily quoted a representative of the regional administration as saying.
According to the official, the Hainan authorities create favorable conditions for the development of not only large duty free stores, where one can find the maximum possible list of prestigious goods, but also relatively small duty free shops located in hotels and airports, on the territory of so-called zones of landscape tourism. In addition, small centers are being set up in some districts away from busy streets and densely populated areas, housing products of famous Chinese and foreign brands in great demand. Thanks to a flexible system of discounts, tourists and locals are offered expensive, prestigious goods at much lower prices than usual.
One of these specialized consumer zones has been recently set up in the city of Wanning on the southeastern coast of the province: on an area of only 1,000 square meters, consumers can find the product they need by making a choice from a list that includes more than 45 types of luxury accessories and over 300 world famous brands.
Boosting consumption during the 13th five-year plan (2016-2020)
According to periodically updated statistics, over the past five years, Sanya has made notable progress in the development of duty free trade. According to Chinese experts, this is happening due to a gradual diversification of the service sector, when the preferences of various categories of buyers are taken into account. For example, people interested in purchasing wedding accessories.
Local media report that the city continues to take into consideration the advanced experience of developed Western countries, stimulating the development of rather narrow areas of consumer tourism. Including through the creation of professional organizations that protect the interests of companies of a particular profile. "In 2019 alone, associations of businesses specializing in family and wedding tourism, as well as e-commerce companies trading in tourism products, were set up in Sanya. A total of 11 new associations were created," the local administration noted. "During the five-year plan as a whole, we managed to establish sectoral organizations and social mechanisms that take into account key tasks of state administration."
In addition, according to official figures, in recent years, Sanya has seen progress in the field of yacht and cruise tourism. A significant breakthrough was recorded in such a promising service sector that stimulates employment growth as night markets.
In April 2018, President Xi Jinping said that the Chinese authorities intend to actively involve Hainan in globalization and to draw foreign investors to the island province. By 2050, according to the authorities, the island should become a unique international cluster with an advanced economy, developed tourism, top-notch scientific, technical and financial potential, and modern medicine. The branches of the best universities and offices of the most powerful corporations in the world will be located on the Island of Hainan.