China News Service, Haikou, September 29 (Zhang Yuehe) Huang Xing, director of the Sanya Municipal Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports Bureau, held a press conference on the theme of "Starting the 15th Five-Year Plan" at the Hainan Provincial Information Office on the 28th. Taking advantage of the major policy dividends of the Hainan Free Trade Port's closure, Sanya will focus on the top-level design of cultural tourism, the implementation of key business formats, and the development of international markets. Systematic efforts will promote the transformation of cultural tourism consumption from "traffic-driven" to "quality-led".
Sanya is the core location for the construction of Hainan's international tourism and consumption center. From January to August this year, Sanya received tourists with a year-on-year increase of over 8.4%, and the total tourist expenditure increased by over 10.6% year-on-year; it received 946,000 inbound tourists, a year-on-year increase of 47.5%, and the total expenditure of inbound tourists increased by over 66.9% year-on-year. Huang Xing said that these data show that Sanya's tourism market has achieved a good start during the start of the "15th Five-Year Plan" and has an obvious trend of high-quality development. But he also said that Sanya has a lot of room for development in terms of improving tourism capabilities and tourism consumption.
During the 2026 Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, Sanya Tianya Haijiao Tourist Area launched an intangible cultural heritage song performance to entertain tourists. (Photo provided by Sanya Tianya Haijiao Tourist Area)
Aiming at the indicators of the city receiving more than 50 million tourists, total tourism expenditure exceeding 160 billion yuan, and overseas tourists exceeding 2 million in 2030, Sanya has systematically planned the "five major actions" in terms of top-level design of cultural tourism, including the year of improving tourism service quality, innovating and iterating tourism products, cultivating and cultivating the tourism industry, promoting cultural tourism and branding, and regulating the tourism market. Sanya is also planning to launch a year of optimization and upgrading of the cultural tourism industry in 2027 to further activate the endogenous power of the tourism industry.
During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, Sanya will also accelerate the construction and opening of key cultural, tourism, commercial and cultural projects such as China Hainan International Arts and Crafts Trading Center, Hainan International Cultural Exchange Center, Sanya Taikoo Li (Duty Free City Phase III) and China Resources Super Mixc. Relying on the "three-in-one" service mechanism for large-scale events, making good use of "machine management of fund allocation for large-scale events", we will organize concerts for performing arts stars, link up with the Hainan Island International Film Festival, and do a good job in promoting consumption activities to promote traffic to increase retention and popularity to increase consumption.
On September 26, 2026, foreign tourists took a group photo while visiting the Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone in Sanya. Photo by Chen Wenwu
In terms of international market development, on the basis of the existing 36 overseas routes and access to 29 overseas destinations, Sanya will orderly promote the opening of two fifth-freedom rights routes, "Shymkent=Sanya=Singapore" and "Phnom Penh=Sanya=Vladivostok". On the basis of the existing 27 overseas promotion contact points, we will plan to add new points to implement local marketing and promotion work in key tourist source areas; prepare for the establishment of the World Coastal Tourism Destination Alliance.
As the National Day holiday is approaching, Huang Xing said that Sanya plans to implement a number of "warming fans and pampering guests" initiatives. For example, the city's 74 qualified government agencies, public institutions, and internal parking lots in villages and communities will be open to self-driving tourists for free. At the same time, Sanya also launched 33 innovative cultural tourism products and more than 40 themed activities during the National Day. (over)
