More than 81 million domestic and overseas tourists visited southern China’s tropical island province of Hainan in 2021, up 25.5% year on year, which is equivalent to 97.5% of the number in 2019, local authorities said Thursday.
Hainan’s total tourism revenue increased 58.6% over the previous year to about RMB 138.4 billion (about 21.7 billion U.S. dollars), up 30.9% compared to 2019, according to the provincial department of tourism, culture, radio, television, and sports.
The province reported RMB 49.5 billion of offshore duty-free shopping in 2021, up 80% year on year, with more than 70 million items purchased by 6.72 million shoppers.
China aims to build Hainan into an international tourism and consumption center by 2025 and a globally influential tourism and consumption destination by 2035.