“In this rugged town in China’s newest and freest special economic zone, these two popular ‘professions’ are among the highest paying.
“Tourism developers say prostitutes are seen as essential to Sanya’s economy as entrepreneurs, and some argue that without them the gorgeous beach resort would lose its appeal as a holiday destination.”
International hotel and resort chains have also entered the market from a completely different perspective, but the process has been difficult. As a January 1995 article put it, “tourists and foreign investors […] The island has a bad reputation for being full of criminals and scammers, so they were scared off and left.”
A construction site in Haikou, Hainan province, in 1999, when the island was being built with international hotels and resorts. Photo: AP
Times have changed! By 2023, more than 90 million domestic and international tourists will visit Hainan Island.
It is unclear whether people still visit in search of prostitutes, but in a sign of how tourism has grown in the past three decades, Hainan now attracts “air sports enthusiasts” as well as those looking for an authentic Chinese beach resort experience, Xinhua reported.
In this case, aviation sports most often involve jumping out of a plane with a parachute, but can also include paragliding and drone racing.
There is now also a Hainan Aviation Sports Association, whose secretary-general Xu Liwen told Xinhua that “the natural advantages of a tropical island are ideal for the development of aviation sports,” especially since the climate is suitable for flying more than 340 days a year.
A paraglider flies over Shimei Bay beach on the coast of Hainan Island. Photo: Getty Images
According to the state-run news agency, 45,300 tourist skydiving trips are expected to take place over Hainan in 2023, 39.6 percent of the national total, and the sport is becoming so influential that it is considered part of Beijing’s “low-altitude economy,” which also includes all commercial drone activity.
Xinhua reported that at this year’s “two conferences” — the National People’s Congress and the annual session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference — “low-altitude economy was included in the Government Work Report for the first time, and aviation sports was highlighted as a driving force for consumption and regional economic transformation.”
Xu clearly points out that “aviation sports breaks the limitations of land tourism” and that “Hainan has entered an era of mutual promotion of aviation sports and the local economy.”
This is a much healthier boast than saying, “We have a lot of prostitutes.”
growing up
Singapore plans to expand tourism of a cooler kind.
In 2010, the city-state opened Resorts World Sentosa and the Marina Bay Sands integrated casino resorts, which helped double tourist numbers to 19.1 million per year by 2019.
“The second phase of the resort development is currently about to begin,” Nikkei Asia reports.
Artist’s impression of the Marina Bay Sands expansion. Photo: Marina Bay Sands
Genting Singapore, a subsidiary of the Malaysian company that runs Resorts World Sentosa, announced in May that it would put out a tender for the construction of two new hotels with a total of 700 rooms to be built on Sentosa Island.
In the downtown core, Marina Bay Sands is planning to add a fourth hotel tower with a 15,000-seat arena, according to the news site.
Judging by artist’s images online, the new tower won’t have a ship-like extension at the top to connect it to the other three towers – it’s the Sands SkyPark – but the real thing is due to take shape between July 2025, when construction begins, and July 2029, when Singapore’s new skyline will be completely updated.
The lucrative casino floors at both resorts have also been expanded, with Marina Bay Sands receiving an additional 2,000 square metres and Genting receiving an additional 500 square metres.
Digital nomads welcome
It sounds like a motley bunch of digital nomads, boxers and trainee chefs, but from now on they’ll all potentially be able to get a five-year visa in Thailand.
According to the Bangkok Post, at the end of May, the Thai government introduced a series of new visa promotions “to attract as many tourists as possible as the national economy is heavily dependent on tourism.”
Thailand offers digital nomads and trainee Muay Thai boxers five-year renewable visas. Photo: AFP
However, travel visas to Thailand are not as generous as they may seem at first glance.
“Visitors who wish to combine work and tourist visits will now be able to obtain a five-year visa, which will allow them to stay for up to 180 days and can be extended for a further 180 days,” the paper explains. “Previously, they were only allowed two 30-day stays.”
“The measure is aimed at digital nomads, remote workers, freelancers and those who want to learn Muay Thai and Thai cooking,” the Bangkok Post quoted government spokesman Chai Watcharonke as saying.
The new measures will add 36 countries, including China and India, to the list of 93 countries whose passport holders can enter without a visa.
