Sanya’s GDP witnessed amazingly fast growth since its establishment as a municipality thirty year ago.

The graph says it all. Thanks to the favorable policies from National Central Government, Sanya government ushered in a favorable tax system, favorable policies, pro-business environment that gradually spilled over to the tourism and service sectors and lead to a continuous growth of GDP in Sanya in three decades. The chart of year-over-year change in Sanya GDP since 1984 reveals this amazing and fast growth vividly.

With the thirtieth anniversary of the establishment of Sanya as a municipal level city, it is becoming the necessary to evaluate the city’s progress during this period, particularly in economic terms. The accompanying graph shows a sustained acceleration in economic growth from 1984 to 2013, despite the global slowdown since the financial crisis in 2007 that haunted western developed countries with linger-on effects. Sanya appears to have done amazingly well, with an average increase of 14.9% since 1984.

However, this is not the full picture. Firstly, before 1992, the increase is steady but relatively slow. After 1992, the year of Deng Xiaoping’s inspection to the south China, all fared much better and showed a prosperous momentum of development. In brief, economic growth has been continuous in Sanya for 30 years and the leaps are more apparent after 1992, after the famous southern tour of Deng Xiaoping who spurred a newer and bigger round of economic opening in China.

GDP of Sanya City in 1993, 2003 has exceeded one billion yuan, five billion yuan respectively and in 2006, it exceeded 10 billion yuan.  In 2010 and 2012 the GDP surpassed 20 billion and 30 billion yuan respectively. These are great milestones illustrating great acceleration of economy growth. In 2013 the city's GDP reached 37.349 billion yuan, 212.2 times that of 1984 with an average annual growth of 14.9%.

In per capita terms, Sanya’s per capita GDP in1984 was merely 566 yuan, while that of 2013 is 64,989 yuan, 114.8 times that of 1984, with an average annual increase of 12.5%. It is noticeable that the 1992 per capita GDP was 2,257 yuan while in 1993, it soared to 4,412 yuan with an increase of 2,155 yuan, an increase of about 95%; the 2005 per capita GDP was 14,560 yuan, and in 2006 it reached 21,090 yuan, an increase of 6,530 yuan, with an increase percentage of about 45%; the 2009 per capita GDP was 33,124 yuan and in 2010 it further surged to 43,727 yuan, an increase of 10,603 yuan, an increase of approximately 32%. The above mentioned periods are the three golden growth peak stages in the 30 years history of Sanya as a modern municipality.