Hainan FTP becomes hot spot on policy breakthrough

International arrivals tell an even more compelling story. Data from Qunar show that international flight bookings to Haikou during the New Year period have increased over 40 percent. And for the 2026 Spring Festival period, international flight bookings to Haikou have more than doubled year-on-year, with Russian, Singaporean, Australian, Malaysian, South Korean and Thai travelers leading the surge.

Dev Bagchi, an Indian businessman, said: "We came for business purposes, but later discovered Hainan is also a tourism destination. It's fantastic. It's a very good place. I will tell everybody in India to visit here, very nice people, very nice place. Weather is very good, just like Mumbai.

"You know, people from India, they prefer to go to Europe for their holidays and I would like to tell them to come to China and especially come to this place, Hainan."

Hainan's tourism is also expected to enter a new stage of golden development.

Industry participants said the expected surge in cooperation is underpinned by Hainan's entry policies, which include visa-free access for travelers from 86 countries, as well as expanded visa-waiver arrangements for cruise passengers and tour groups. Combined with the new customs operations, these measures are positioning the island as a platform for joint tourism ventures.

"Everybody has to come to Hainan to visit this perfect island," said Sandra Staber from Austria's Tourism Office of Carinthia, pointing to the island's rain forests and coastal attractions. Staber said easier entry procedures and duty-free shopping policies will strengthen Hainan's appeal when developing premium island-based travel products.

Thapanee Kiatphaibool, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said that "two-way tourism" would be central to future growth, suggesting that Hainan's development could support more balanced tourist flows and shared destination marketing.

"Hainan's customs operations make it easier for us to engage directly with the Chinese market," said Jan Vislocky of Slovakia's Vislocky Travel.

The expansion of the offshore duty-free shopping policy on Nov 1 further broadened the consumer appeal, extending the duty-free list to 47 product categories ranging from mini drones and portable musical instruments to handbags and premium tea.

The efforts are yielding remarkable results. In the first month under the new policy, the average daily sales from departing international travelers at the Sanya International Duty Free Shopping Complex had skyrocketed to 19-fold the pre-policy level, solidifying the outbound tourism segment as a vast, potential-filled blue ocean market.