CTG charts plan to consolidate presence in Hainan

With the port of Sanya as a base, he said the group plans to highlight cruise services to help bolster both the cultural and tourism sector in Hainan this year.

Hainan attracted 1.42 million tourists from overseas in 2019, up 12.4 percent from a year earlier, while tourism revenue totaled 105 billion yuan. It also sold 13.49 billion yuan worth of tax-free products to people throughout the world in 2019, up 30 percent on a yearly basis, said Hainan's provincial tourism and cultural authorities.

Attracted by Hainan's growth potential and its convenient location close to the economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a total of 23 central SOEs－including China Merchants Group, China National Machinery Industry Corp and China Railway Group－invested 35 billion yuan across Hainan in 2019 to establish regional headquarters, plants, ports and research and development facilities, said officials from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

Luo Zilian, head of the General Administration of the Customs Sanya branch, said Hainan has benefited from its visa-free access by tapping into the local tourism boom and the island province's greater connectivity. Customs will continue to upgrade its supervision over e-commerce activities to help consumers purchase more duty-free products.

Affected by the outbreak, Hainan's sales of duty-free products totaled 1.85 million items worth 1.28 billion yuan between Feb 19 and March 30, down 20 percent on a year-on-year basis, according to customs data.