HAIKOU, June 4. /TASS/. More than 300 professionals and photography enthusiasts took part in the underwater diving competition held in Hainan's Sanya, reported the "Hainan Daily".
According to the newspaper, the competition took place in the waters of Wuzhizhou Island, one of the most popular diving spots in China. Such events have been held in Sanya for the third consecutive year.
As the organizers explained, during the competition, divers must "display the contrast of the sea element and the usual human life on land", "reveal the impressive moments of the underwater world and capture them in a good angle", as well as "ensure the depth of the semantic content of the picture with high quality photography". Participants had the opportunity to demonstrate their experience and skills in one of the traditional contests: working with a wide-angle lens, portrait, model photography, close-up photography, unobtrusive photo advertising and story clips from a photo series.
The winners of these contests will receive various prizes. However, according to the divers, their main task is "to rest creatively among like-minded people." As the local authorities clarified, the main task of the event is to popularize eco-friendly recreation, to consolidate in the minds of people an understanding of the concept of sustainable development without harming the environment.
Sanya's tourism potential
Sanya is a major Chinese resort with more than a million residents, according to the 2021 census. The average annual air temperature in this city is 25.4 degrees Celsius, and the length of the coastline exceeds 200 km. In the adjacent water area, there are 19 bays and about 40 islands suitable for recreation. All this allows the local administration to successfully develop yacht and beach tourism.
A significant part of the inhabitants of Sanya are representatives of the Li people, who inhabited the island more than 3,000 years ago. They speak a language belonging to the Tai Kadai family, which includes Thai and Lao. This ethnos has preserved many customs and traditions rooted in the Neolithic era.
According to official statistics, tourism in Sanya is steadily recovering from the pandemic. In the first quarter, at least 6.96 million tourists visited the resort, which is exceeds the figure for the same period in 2020 more than threefold. The revenues of the local tourism industry for the past January-March amounted to 22.27 billion yuan (3.46 billion dollars at the current exchange rate), an increase of 5.2 times year-on-year.