Visa-free entry turns Sanya into a multi-stop base for foreign tourists

Why it matters: China has been widening visa-free entry to revive inbound tourism, and Hainan is one of the most open testing grounds. For foreign travellers, the island can now work as a cheap, easy entry point for a longer trip rather than a standalone beach holiday.

Cenek Dufek, a traveller from the Czech Republic, landed at Sanya Phoenix International Airport on the afternoon of 23 October for a first visit to Hainan. Dufek plans a nine-day holiday and said entry under the visa-free policy was very convenient, according to China News Service.

The airport is the main gateway for foreign visitors to Hainan. Since 18 December last year, it has handled 837,000 foreign arrivals and departures, and visa-free entrants made up 97.6% of foreign arrivals, the report said.

Zhou Jianan, a deputy team leader at the Phoenix border inspection station under the Haikou entry-exit border inspection station, said Sanya now has 38 international passenger routes. These include the country's first seventh-freedom route, Sanya–Prague, and fifth-freedom routes, covering Southeast Asia, Central Asia and Russian-speaking markets. Most foreign arrivals come from Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia.

Travel patterns are shifting. Zhou said many foreign passports now carry entry stamps from other Chinese ports such as Suifenhe, Pudong and Daxing, with visitors flying first to Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu or Xi'an and then heading south by high-speed rail and road, making Sanya the last stop of a China trip.

Guide Guo Hongyuan, who works with Russian-speaking visitors in Sanya, said several Russian cities have nearly ten direct charter flights a week to the city, with plenty of choice and affordable fares. Beach resorts, established traditional Chinese medicine and wellness services and support facilities for foreign guests have made Sanya a base for long-haul trips, Guo said.

Visitors are also moving beyond the coast, from beach sightseeing to island-wide travel, early-morning markets and traditional Chinese massage, the report said. The airport has added Chinese, English and Russian signage, multilingual volunteer teams, online arrival-card filing and faster inspection software, cutting single-person clearance to 30 seconds and per-flight processing by about 30 minutes.

On 20 August this year, Hainan added Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam to its 30-day visa-free list, bringing the number of countries covered to 61. Citizens of 88 countries can now enter Hainan visa-free with ordinary passports, the report said.