"A Bali in south China"
By Chua Chin Hon
BEIJING - Hainan aims to be China's Bali or Phuket. To make the tropical island as famous as the South-east Asian destinations, the authorities in the southern province will grant foreign airlines greater access to its airports and expand visa-free travel. These are part of liberalisation moves to boost Hainan's tourism industry, hard hit by the Sars outbreak and suffering from a dearth of foreign visitors. Chinese officials said that if the Hainan experiment was successful, similar changes might be introduced in other places such as Beijing and Shanghai. The tropical island's sun-drenched beaches and perfect weather drew 12 million tourists last year, though 97 per cent of them were from mainland cities. The remaining 3 per cent consisted of 224,200 tourists from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, and 165,200 visitors from other parts of the world. In comparison, Bali and Phuket drew 1.3 million and 2.7 million foreign visitors, respectively, in 2001.
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