HAIKOU /China/, July 14. /TASS/. The resort city of Sanya in the southern Chinese province of Hainan is preparing to welcome more than 4.3 million tourists in the third quarter of 2022, that will exceed the figure for the same period in 2021 by 12%. This is reported by the Sanya Daily newspaper.
With the start of the summer swim season in July and August the city expects a significant increase in the number of bookings at local hotels. A positive trend has been observed since mid-June. Many five-star hotels had no rooms left in the middle of last month, and the average hotel occupancy rate in Haitang Bay was 83% July 1-9. By comparison, in early May the corresponding figure at the Westin Hotel was at only 30%, and for the past two weeks, all rooms were already booked.
According to certain estimates, the newspaper writes, Sanya is now among the top ten Chinese cities with hotels that are most popular with tourists during the summer holiday season. Chengdu, Chongqing and Guangzhou share the top three spots. Sanya is in seventh place.
Many Sanya hotels offer various seasonal events, entertainment programs, water performances and shows for tourists until the end of August. Revenue from tourism in the city is expected to be about 13 billion yuan ($1.9 billion) in the third quarter.
According to official figures, Sanya welcomed 21.6 million tourists staying at least one night in the city in 2021. The tourism industry's total revenue was 74.7 billion yuan, almost back to 2019 levels.
By 2025, the authorities intend to turn Hainan into an "international tourism and consumption center. The Chinese island is often referred to as "Oriental Hawaii" - ocal nature, tropical forests, a developed network of hotels combined with the beaches and the coastline length of more than 1.9 thousand kilometers attract visitors from the farthest corners of the world. During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), Hainan welcomed about 352 million Chinese and foreign tourists.