Hainan deepens opening-up with new tourism regulations

South China's tropical island province of Hainan is welcoming visitors from around the world with a more open stance, as its new tourism regulations came into effect on December 1.

The regulations, designed to support Hainan's goal of becoming an international tourism and consumption hub and advancing the development of high-quality tourism, provide a comprehensive legal framework covering tourism planning and resource protection, industry development and promotion, openness and internationalization, business operations and consumer rights protection, safety and emergency response, and market supervision.

A dedicated chapter on "tourism openness and internationalization" pioneers a series of high-standard opening-up measures in the tourism sector, which include allowing qualified Sino-foreign joint venture travel agencies and wholly foreign-owned enterprises to operate outbound tourism services, excluding travel to Taiwan.

The new regulations outline measures to implement more open and convenient duty-free shopping policies for departing passengers and also support the development of cruise home ports and international cruise routes, simplify yacht entry procedures, and ease access for overseas patients seeking treatment within the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP).

To foster new tourism models, the regulations promote marine, forest, and low-altitude tourism, while encouraging nighttime tourism products and distinctive local merchandise and cuisine.

The regulations took effect just weeks before the Hainan FTP is set to launch its island-wide special customs operations on December 18. These operations will raise the proportion of zero-tariff goods in the Hainan FTP from 21 percent to 74 percent, while further opening up the local tourism industry, as well as the modern services and high-tech sectors.