United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called on all parties to ease tensions in Venezuela through dialogue and respect international law.
Addressing reporters at a press briefing, Guterres said the situation in the South American country remained "very tense", and the United Nations has been consistently appealing for deescalation.
"The situation is obviously very tense. That's why we have been consistently appealing for deescalation, for dialogue, and for international law to be fully respected," said Guterres.
For almost four months, the United States has maintained a significant military presence in the Caribbean, much of it off Venezuela's coast, purportedly to combat drug trafficking -- a claim Venezuela has denounced as a thinly veiled attempt to bring about regime change in Caracas.
On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he had ordered a total blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into and out of Venezuela, stepping up a months-long pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Amid continuous boat strikes, Trump also repeatedly said in recent weeks that the U.S. military would begin land strikes targeting drug traffickers in the Caribbean country "very soon".
Guterres urges deescalation, calling for dialogue on Venezuela
South China's Hainan Province has been stepping up its efforts in expanding the scale and quality of cultural and tourism industry, continuously driving tourism consumption.
The province's total revenue of the tourism sector grew from 95.016 billion yuan (about 13.302 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018 to 204.014 billion yuan in 2024, doubling in scale. Meanwhile, tourism's overall contribution to GDP has risen significantly, climbing from 27.3 percent in 2018 to 33.4 percent in 2024.
"Hainan has been providing more abundant premium tourism products, with duty-free shopping, aerospace study tours, wellness vacations, and cultural performances flourishing as distinctive sectors, meeting tourists' diverse and quality consumption needs," said Chen Tiejun, director of Hainan Provincial Department of Tourism and Culture, Radio, Television and Sports.
Under the policy of Free Trade Port, Hainan's inbound tourism has seen drastic changes.
"With continued release of policy dividends, Hainan's global connectivity is significantly enhanced, along with optimized market structure, and steadily rising consumption quality," said Chen.
As of November 2025, the province had opened a total of 82 overseas passenger routes, linking key cities in Russian-speaking regions, main customer source cities in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions. Five long-haul routes to Europe and America were launched as well.
"In the years to come, Hainan will further expand long-haul international routes to Europe, the United States, and the Middle East, and build a global tourism promotion system. It will also develop joint 'multi-destination' travel routes with provinces and cities in Chinese mainland as well as Hong Kong and Macao. Leveraging duty-free policies, Hainan will create international products such as high-end shopping, cruise tourism, and health care and wellness to attract more inbound tourists to visit and vacation here," Chen said.
Hainan tourism consumption gains leapfrog growth
