HAIKOU, October 8. /TASS/. More than 4 mln tourists visited Hainan's resorts during the week of festivities marking the 70th annoversary of the People's Republic of China, according to www.hinews.cn.
As the publication noted, thre indicator grew by 5,8% YOY. The revenue from tourism industry on October 1-7 reached 7,67 bln yuan (about $1,09 bln) having increased by 11,5% YOY. As the local tourism department reported, 2,28 mln tourists out of the total number of visitors came to the island as individual travelers.
According to the authorities, during this period Haikou Meilan airport served at least 448,000 passengers whereas 377,200 visitors used the city's second airport — Phoenix in Sanya.
The news outlet writes that the number of increasing nuumber of tourists had a positive impact on the island's services sector. Duty-free stores in Haikou, Sanya and Boao during the holidays served a total of 224,100 customers, which is by 38,9% more than last year. Their revenue also increased by 57,4% to 385,29 million yuan (about $ 54,5 million).
By 2025, the Chinese government intends to create an "international center for tourism and consumption" on Hainan. In order to do so, the "Eastern Hawaii" with their unique natural landscapes, thick rainforests and great climate will establish a developed network of hotels, which blend perfectly with white sandy beaches stretching along the coastline. The combination of an exotic subtropical nature and a modern eco-friendly infrastructure will boost tourist inflow to the island from the most distant parts of the world.
In 2018 more than 76 mln Chinese and foreign tourists visited the Island of Hainan, and tourist flow to the island in the first half of 2019 reached 38,6 mln people, esceeding the previous year's fiigures by 6%.