KUALA LUMPUR: Hainan’s construction of a pilot free trade zone and free trade port with Chinese characteristics will see many new opportunities for international cooperation in island tourism, said the province’s deputy governor, Shen Danyang.
According to him, the province aims to be an international tourism consumption centre, with benefits brought by China’s construction of the Hainan free trade zone (port).
The centre will provide larger development space for island tourism through sharing experiences, strengthening tourism development planning and policy communication, and building a community of shared future with characteristics based on close cooperation under globalisation.
Shen’s opinion has been agreed upon by the guests from countries, who attended the Islands Economic Cooperation Forum of Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2019 recently.
One of the conference’s foci was, how to conduct international cooperation between island tourist destinations and realise sustainable development of island tourism as island resorts are always facing homogeneous competition.
Last year, Hainan had 74 international routes, nine international container shipment routes and 59 countries gained visa-free access to China whereby, the number of tourists rose by 11.8 per cent. – Bernama
