Hainan targets tourists in Southeast Asia

Haikou (CNS) -- A tourism promotion delegation set off on Monday from Haikou, Hainan Province, and will successively stop in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand with the aim of luring foreigners to the island region.

Hu Mingyue, deputy director of the provincial tourism office, said they will introduce Hainan's tourism infrastructure to the three countries and tout favorable policies for the newly-developed Hainan International Tourism Island.

Tourism products will be a focus of the campaign, Hu said, including golf and yachting. Hainan's reputation as the hometown of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia and its Li and Miao minority cultures will also be featured, Hu added.

Southeast Asia is a traditionally important market for Hainan tourism. According to official statistics for 2011, hotels in Hainan accommodated nearly 60,000 Singaporean tourists, 22,000 tourists from Malaysia and 6,000 tourists from Thailand that year.