From May 1, passport holders from the UK, US, Canada and other European and Asian countries will be able to enter Hainan for stays of up to 30 days, according to an announcement by the State Immigration Authority, reported South China Morning Post.
Visitors from 59 countries have been granted visa-free entry to Hainan island in an unprecedented move by the Chinese government to spur economic growth and boost tourism in the backwater province.
From May 1, passport holders from the UK, US, Canada and other European and Asian countries will be able to enter Hainan for stays of up to 30 days, according to an announcement by the State Immigration Authority, reported South China Morning Post.
Countries not included in the list are African countries, countries on the Indian subcontinent, as well as three members of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN): Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
The latest move is an expansion from a 2000 policy that permitted tour groups from 21 countries to enter Hainan visa-free for up to two weeks. The new move lets individual travellers enter Hainan and extends the period of stay.
The move is likely to benefit Chinese airlines, including the island’s flagship carrier, Hainan Airlines, a unit of the troubled Chinese conglomerate, HNA Group.
Long promoted as ‘China’s Hawaii’, the 35,000-square-kilometre tropical island has historically been regarded as a backwater and afterthought.
International arrivals to the country - still at a fledging stage - only crossed the one million mark last year, compared to popular island destination Bali, which at one-sixth the size of Hainan greeted more than five million foreign visitors last year.
Revenue for the tourism sector – foreign and domestic arrivals – totalled 81.2 billion yuan (US$12.9 billion).