Investment heats up in tropical Sanya

Nearly 100 corporate projects launched, pumping 41 billion yuan into city's economy

Sanya, one of tropical coastal cities at the southern tip of Hainan island, is becoming a popular destination for domestic and overseas investment as construction of the China (Hainan) Pilot Free Trade Zone (Port) gains momentum.

Construction of 15 projects began and agreements on 11 projects were signed on May 18. The latest batch of investment in Sanya, dubbed the "oriental Hawaii", covering fields like headquarters economy, tourism, finance and high-tech industries. Over 9 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) was invested in the area.

Since the central government announced plans in April last year to build Hainan into a pilot free trade zone and gradually explore building it into a free trade port with Chinese characteristics, the tourist resort city has signed strategic cooperation agreements on 300 projects with names like Merlin Entertainments, Thomas Cook, China Taiping Life Insurance, China Minmetals and COFCO, among many others.

In total, 101 projects have been launched, with investment reaching 41.25 billion yuan. Much of the funds came from overseas conglomerates and domestic business giants, according to the local government.

A total of 29 Fortune Global 500-listed conglomerates have decided to launch business in Sanya, and 23 corporations, including China Minmetals and Sunshine Insurance Group, have registered their regional or business section headquarters in the tropical city.

A recent Deloitte's evaluation gave Sanya's business environment a score of 73.4 points, earning it the 49th place in a global comprehensive simulation ranking, according to a report from Sanya Daily.

Sanya is a strategic node on the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and is working to be a leader in the construction of the Hainan FTZ and free trade port with Chinese characteristics, said Tong Daochi, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Hainan Committee and secretary of the CPC Sanya Committee.

He said Sanya presents great opportunities and shoulders heavy responsibilities in promoting the Belt and Road Initiative and the construction of the Hainan FTZ.

He added Sanya will highlight work in 10 key areas this year, including implementing policies for deepening reform and opening-up in an all-round way, promoting trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, accelerating financial opening and innovation, promoting high-quality tourism development and overall institutional reform.

The priorities also include optimizing the business environment, promoting construction of the national ecological civilization pilot area, accelerating construction of key projects and strengthening construction of risk prevention and control systems.

Sanya will strive to establish special customs regulatory areas, introduce service agencies specialized in international legal, arbitration, accounting, auditing, intellectual property rights and rating services, in a bid to promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, according to Tong.

He said the free trade account system will be adopted by all major commercial banks, and eligible financial institutions will be encouraged to carry out cross-border investment, financing, trade settlement, offshore insurance, as a move to accelerate financial opening-up and innovation. Sanya's International Trade Center will also be established this year.

"Tourism is Sanya's traditional advantage and leading industry, which received more than 20.99 million tourists last year. Efforts must be made to upgrade the industry by taking advantage of the construction of Hainan into an international tourism center, one of the four positions for the Hainan FTZ set by the central government, and make Sanya a benchmark for Hainan FTZ development," said Tong.

To promote high-quality growth of tourism, Sanya will increase international air routes, explore the policy of no-visa transit linking with other domestic cities, open up more transnational cruise routes, promote pilot routes for cruises to nowhere from Sanya cruise port. The city will also vigorously promote full coverage of online payment and terminal payment services at tourist attractions, hotels and for large and medium-sized commodities, in addition to making foreign currency exchange more convenient, according to the city government.

Tong said Sanya will concentrate on the development of tourism, the hospitality industry, duty-free shopping, healthcare industry, exhibition industry, financial industry and other modern service industries to achieve high-quality development.

On March 23, about 20,000 car-racing fans and spectators came to Sanya from home and abroad to enjoy the excitement from the FIA Formula E Championship.

"This is one of the many international sports events introduced by Sanya, which is cultivating a 'tourism+ sports' industry," said Chen Zhenmin, director of the Sanya Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports bureau.

"Sanya has been promoting deeper integration of tourism with health, culture, exhibition and sports to introduce and develop world-class quality products and attract tourists from all over the world," said Chen.

Besides deepening supply-side reform in the tourism sector, Sanya is also striving in developing high-end service industries and high-tech industries, according to Tong.

"High-tech industry is one of our focuses to ensure the city's high quality development. Sanya will promote construction of the Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City, 42 kilometers in the west from the city proper, including the construction of the National South China Seed Breeding Base, the National Tropical Agricultural Science Center, the South Center of the National Deep-Sea Base and the Global Animal and Plant Germplasm Resources Introduction and Transfer Base," said Tong.

He added Sanya will also speed up construction of infrastructure, promote interconnection between Sanya and regions taking part in the BRI.

Exchanges and cooperation with the outside world will increase in the fields of culture, tourism, sports, science and technology and education. Policies on talent introduction and visa-free entry for tourists from 59 countries will be implemented to bring together more talent, increase logistical flow, funds and technologies for the development and prosperity of Sanya, and for mutual development and benefit of the city's cooperation partners from home and abroad, said officials with the city government.

A bird's eye-view of Sanya, one of tropical coastal cities in China.Fu Bin/for China Daily