According to data released by the Haikou General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection, by July 14 more than 154,000 foreign tourists had entered without a visa this year, over 12 times more than in the same period last year.
In the first half of the year, Sanya welcomed 319,800 overnight visitors from abroad, around 81 percent of the visitor volume seen during the same period in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Russian tourists have emerged as the largest group visiting Hainan. Since January, over 35,000 Russian tourists have explored Sanya, representing 33.6 percent of foreign visitors. More than 94 percent of them entered Hainan visa-free, according to the Sanya Fenghuang Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection.
