As the five-day May Day (Labor Day) holiday approaches, top tourist destinations in Hainan, China’s southern island province, are rolling out dynamic cultural and leisure offerings, ensuring visitors have a vibrant and immersive getaway.
Data from online travel platforms indicates a significant surge in flight and hotel bookings for Hainan during the upcoming holiday.
In anticipation of the influx of tourists, scenic spots across the province are leveraging their unique resources to offer distinctive cultural and tourism experiences.
The Luhuitou Scenic Area in Sanya City is blending light art with natural landscapes, enhancing its nighttime offerings. In addition to its regular live performances, the scenic area has introduced new Labor Day-themed light installations and photo-worthy spots for visitors to enjoy.
The Ocean Flower Island resort in Danzhou City has launched a night-tour program featuring stunning light shows and live performances, designed to create a relaxing atmosphere for visitors.
The Shenyu Island Cultural and Tourism Resort in Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County will offer a five-day therapeutic course for elderly visitors, along with intangible cultural heritage educational programs for children.
"The first 30 visitors to our park each day will enjoy a free costume experience, with makeup artists available to help create their looks. This allows visitors to immerse themselves in both the rainforest scenery and the Hanfu (traditional Chinese attire) culture," said Liu Yukun, marketing manager of the Baihualing Rainforest Cultural Tourism Zone in Qiongzhong Li and Miao Autonomous County.
According to Hainan's tourism authorities, the province welcomed 33.86 million tourist arrivals in the first quarter of this year, a 5.6 percent increase compared to the previous year. International arrivals grew by 19.3 percent, reaching 309,600. This continued growth in tourist numbers signals a thriving tourism market in Hainan.
China's Hainan Island innovates tourist offerings ahead of May Day holiday
China's Hainan Island innovates tourist offerings ahead of May Day holiday
After over five years of construction, the Urumqi-Yuli Expressway that traverses the Tianshan Mountains in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region opened to traffic on Friday, cutting the time of driving from the southern to the northern parts of the towering mountains by half.
Thanks to the entry into operation of the expressway, the travel time from the regional capital of Urumqi, north of the Tianshan Mountains, to Korla, south of the Tianshan Mountains, has been shortened from seven hours to about 3.5 hours.
The Tianshan Mountains, with a length of 2,500 km, spans across the whole the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The Urumqi-Yuli Expressway traversing it is 324.7-kilometer long. It includes 12 interchanges, 17 tunnels and hundreds of bridges, culverts and passages. Among them, the Tianshan Shengli Tunnel is the key project.
"With a total length of 22.13 kilometers, the Tianshan Shengli Tunnel is the world's longest expressway tunnel, and has the deepest highway shaft worldwide, creating two world records," said Song Hailiang, president of China Communications Construction Company.
The Urumqi-Yuli Expressway not only links the Urumqi metropolitan area, the northern Xinjiang urban belt, and the southern Xinjiang city cluster, but also provides convenient connectivity between the three major pilot free trade zones in Urumqi, Kashgar and Khorgos, significantly reducing logistics costs, effectively promoting mutual complementation of resource advantages between northern and southern Xinjiang, and accelerating the two-way circulation of northern Xinjiang's energy and equipment manufacturing with southern Xinjiang's agricultural products and distinctive resources.
It also connects with multiple important highways at home and abroad.
"The Urumqi-Yuli Expressway connects with New Eurasian Land Bridge, and multiple economic corridors' major arteries linking up China to Central Asia, west Asia and Pakistan. Meanwhile, it also connects with the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor. Therefore, operation of the expressway will further consolidate Xinjiang's role as a strategic hub in the 'dual circulation' of domestic and international markets," said Guo Sheng, deputy director of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region's Department of Transportation.
Expressway traversing north, south Xinjiang opens to traffic
