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A press conference for the “Sanya International Tourism Consumption Year” was held in Sanya on September 23rd, 2019.

A total of 152 events, planned to take place in Sanya from October 2019 to December 2020, were announced at the conference.

The 152 events include 40 international-level events, 10 national-level events, 4 provincial-level events, 33 municipal-level events, 10 district-level events, and 55 enterprise-guided events. Those events will be mainly divided into five categories, namely, 43 festivals, 33 cultural and art performances, 42 sports events, 29 MICE events, and 5 shopping promotional events.

The large-scale events will help accelerate the transformation and upgrade of the tourism industry, promoting integration and development of the industry and other related industries, and improving the quality of tourism consumption services, with an overall aim of helping Hainan develop into an international tourism consumption center.

According to the plans, by 2020 the total number of tourist arrivals to Sanya will exceed 29 million, including more than 1 million inbound tourists. By that time, total tourism revenue in the city will exceed RMB 68 billion.

Sanya is now working to upgrade its cultural, festival, and sports tourism consumption infrastructure with the aim of developing into an international tourism consumption hotspot. Cultural events and festivals including the Sanya Tianya Haijiao International Wedding Festival, the ISY Music Festival, and the Hainan International Film Festival will serve to attract a range of tourists from around the world to the city. Various themed events aimed at boosting the tourism consumption economy will be planned in the city, including the Hainan Duty-free Shopping Carnival, and “Cool Summer in Sanya 2020.”

In terms of marine tourism consumption, Sanya has been working to create a series of pilot projects, including by launching a series of Sanya cruise/yacht/sightseeing boat tourism service centers, creating an implementation plan for “Free Cruising” for Yachts from Hong Kong and Macao in the China (Hainan) Pilot Free Trade Zone, and the launch of Chinese-funded entertainment cruises flying flags of convenience.

Sanya is also working to promote deeper integration of tourism in the sports industry by introducing quality sports events such as the 6th Asian Beach Games 2020 and China Corporative Beach Games. The city is constructing a number of venues and facilities to promote the development of water sports, beach sports, and related sports tourism outlets.

To further increase nighttime tourism consumption, Sanya is planning to build at least five city-level nighttime economic demonstration streets by the end of 2019. By 2020, at least two influential and distinctive nighttime economic agglomeration zones will be formed in each district, and popular recreational activities such as city nighttime orienteering competitions will be organized with the aim of boosting the city’s nighttime economy.

In addition, Sanya will enhance the quality of tourism consumer services. Sanya is in the process of developing into the country’s first “language barrier-free” international city, with the help of new facilities and services intended to bring brand-new experiences and convenience to international visitors.