Hainan Island is "on fire" again


  January 15th is the Lunar New Year in the south. At a pier not far from Phoenix Island in Sanya, dozens of yachts are lined up waiting to go to sea.

Someone ridiculed: Tourists should enjoy the coconut wind and sea charm; tourism practitioners work hard; maritime personnel are worried about the "risk of ship jams".

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  Fan Fan (pseudonym), a post-90s girl who is celebrating the New Year in Sanya for the first time, is ready to meet the "tourism boom".

In December 2022, after the adjustment of the epidemic prevention and control policy, an electric surfing club where Fan Fan works has joined forces with other companies to launch new activities during the Spring Festival.

  "All the Spring Festival activities in our store are fully booked." Fan Fan told reporters from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily that the business in the store has been very good recently, and he is busy with reception every day at 10 am, and the beach is also very lively.

  This Spring Festival, Feng Qingxiong, the founder of Hainan Forest Inn, and his staff are also getting ready to be busy.

  "The Spring Festival of the Year of the Rabbit is getting closer and closer. There are a lot of guests in Sanya. Wanning Riyuewan Store and Boao Store have become more popular. The villas of Boao Inn are full, and the bananas and carambola in the courtyard are ripe. This time, guest officials from Beijing and Shanghai are blessed... Please book early, travel and celebrate the festival with peace of mind." Feng Qingxiong excitedly posted a Moments.

From dismal operation to hot again

  Fan Fan, who has a cheerful personality, has been engaged in the tourism industry in her hometown after graduation. Because of the repeated epidemics in the past few years, her tourism industry has been greatly impacted. In February last year, she came to Sanya alone with her luggage.

  Although she has been in Sanya for less than a year, she has already made many friends. After this Spring Festival, Fan Fan will go to Wuzhishan with her friends for rafting.

  "From 2010 to 2020, we opened 10 stores, closed 4 stores by 2022, and now there are 6 stores left. There is a lot of pressure on rent, wages and other expenses. It can be said to be a 'dismal operation'." Feng Qingxiong told China Youth Daily. Reporter from China Youth Daily, in the past few years of the epidemic, the employees who are affectionately called "leaves" by tourists have stepped out of the hotel and become volunteers, serving the community and tourists, and also helping to buy vegetables, clean up the sanitation of streets and beaches , leaving many heart-warming stories.

  Right now, Hainan Island is bustling again, and the business of the hotel is very good. The employees receive guests from Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Chengdu and other places every day, and the number of reservations has reached more than 80%.

Feng Qingxiong said that some stores have launched Spring Festival activities such as surfing, bonfire parties, fishing with nets, and making local special snacks by themselves.

Feng Qingxiong also built a forest boutique homestay and camping base in his hometown, "it is expected to open this summer."

  There are 23 counters open for passengers to check in, and there are still long queues during peak hours. This is the scene of Atlantis Sanya before the Spring Festival this year.

  In the lobby of the Atlantis Hotel, in order to avoid crowds as much as possible, when there are too many people queuing at the front desk, the staff will guide the guests to store their luggage, visit the aquarium, shopping avenue and other areas first, and remind the guests to go back to the front desk to check in through text messages , Get the room card.

According to the relevant person in charge of Atlantis Hotel, the current daily occupancy rate of the hotel exceeds 95% on average, and the number of reservations is still rising.

  Walking out of the hotel, I came to the seaside. The Xisha eco-tourism line "Changle Princess" cruise line, which was recently selected as a pilot of the domestic waterway tourist passenger boutique line, has a full schedule of voyages during the Spring Festival this year.

"This year's Spring Festival voyage starts on January 20, with one voyage every three days. Currently, the voyages during the Spring Festival holiday are fully booked. The voyage on January 20 also launched themed flights. I hope tourists from all over the country can feel the strong New Year and China’s intangible cultural heritage atmosphere.” Li Yangzi, assistant general manager of Haixia Co., Ltd., introduced that the cruise ship also launched banana boats, sea magic carpet and other sea entertainment activities, and will strive to launch more exciting activities in the future.

More optimistic outlook for 2023

  Li Chao, a Zhejiang tourist who drove to Hainan, and his family have been in Hainan for more than a week.

At tourist attractions such as Shimei Bay in Wanning, Hainan, Wuzhizhou Island in Sanya, and Dadonghai, they felt the "huge crowds".

"I really didn't expect to meet so many people during this trip to Hainan. It was very lively, and the food, accommodation, travel, entertainment and shopping were relatively smooth." Li Chao said.

  January 15 is the Lunar New Year in the south, and a short video circulated on the Internet.

In the video, dozens of yachts are lined up at a pier not far from Phoenix Island in Sanya, waiting to go out to sea.

Someone added a teasing text to the short video: Tourists should enjoy the coconut wind and sea charm, and be romantic; tourism practitioners should work hard to make up for what they lost; maritime personnel are worried about "there is a risk of ship jams."

  Due to the impact of heavy fog for several consecutive days, the Qiongzhou Strait was suspended intermittently, causing more than 10,000 self-driving cars to wait for the boat in Haikou on both sides of the Qiongzhou Strait and in the inner and outer parking lots of Xuwen Port. It takes more than ten hours.

Drivers and passengers traveling during the Spring Festival can only "look at the sea and sigh".

  The "2023 Spring Festival Tourism Market Forecast Report" released by Ctrip recently pointed out that Sanya and Haikou were shortlisted for the top ten popular destinations for this year's Spring Festival tourism, and Hainan will experience a "homecoming + play" boom during the Spring Festival holiday.

  According to Wang Jiansheng, president of the Hainan Provincial Tourism Development Research Association, the tourism market in Hainan is booming, and the industry has long expected that during the "Double 11" shopping festival last year, there was an upsurge of "hoarding tourism" on major online booking platforms, and Hainan hotels are popular Choose, and the New Year's Day and Spring Festival holidays are a good time to cash in on "travel hoarding" orders.

  "At present, people are gradually developing the habit of pursuing 'sunshine, outdoor, small-scale, scattered' tourism. The various conditions of Hainan Island meet people's travel expectations, and it will definitely become a popular destination." Wang Jiansheng said that Hainan has always been a popular destination for winter tourism. Due to the impact of the tax-free policy on outlying islands and the policy to stimulate tourism consumption, Hainan’s tourism has strong competitiveness.

  According to data from Sanya Phoenix International Airport and Haikou Meilan International Airport, during the Spring Festival travel period (January 7-February 15), Sanya Phoenix Airport is expected to take off and land 16,000 flights, transporting 2.738 million passengers; Meilan Airport is expected to take off and land There were 19,400 flights, carrying 2.5054 million passengers.

  The popularity of the Chinese New Year tourism market in the Year of the Rabbit has also given the tourism authority of Hainan Province a more optimistic expectation for the whole year of 2023.

On January 13, Li Huiwei, director of the Hainan Provincial Department of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports, said in an interview that the tourism development goal of Hainan Province in 2023 is to receive 72 million tourists, a year-on-year increase of 20%; the total tourism revenue will reach 140 billion yuan , an increase of 25% year-on-year; the added value of tourism accounted for 9.0% of GDP.

  Li Zhengyan China Youth Daily China Youth Daily reporter Ren Mingchao Source: China Youth Daily