Tourism, sovereignty claims main reasons for Xisha development

Yexiang Princess, the first cruise ship with official approval to sail between Hainan Province's Sanya and the Xisha Islands, finished its journey and successfully returned to Sanya yesterday morning. Its successful maiden voyage led to wider calls to open the Xisha Islands to broader public tourism.

Sovereignty claims from neighboring countries, such as Vietnam, on some islands in the South China Sea, have raised more curiosity toward the little-known islands.

Almost inaccessible

The Yexiang Princess, belonging to Hainan Strait Shipping, set off from the tourist city Sanya toward the Xisha North Reef on Friday evening. A Weibo user on board, who calls herself Nancy, charted her journey through photos and tales online.

According to her posts, the ship arrived at North Reef on Saturday morning after sailing for 12 hours. Some passengers manned two small boats to approach the reef. Later, the ship headed for Yagong Island where mobile phone signals were available, allowing Nancy to post. A day was spent on the island before setting off for Sanya on Sunday evening.

Nancy described an idyllic setting with crystalline water and azure skies, expressing the feeling that she would not "see other seas after having been to Xisha."

Before the maiden voyage of Yexiang Princess, other trail-blazers had relied on other means to reach the Xisha Islands, as revealed by travel journals of Chinese tourists found through a Baidu search.

These visitors travelled in two ways: the official method of securing permission from the local government before boarding a supply ship carrying goods to Xisha, and the "illegal" method of paying fishermen to ferry them across.

Only about 200 visitors a year can access the islands in the first manner, whilst those braving the crossing with alternate means of transport face police checkups and the knowledge that their thirst for adventure could land their would-be guides in hot water.

In their notes, most visitors expressed their enjoyment of the beautiful sightseeing spots on the island, tinted with a sense of patriotism to reassert Chinese sovereignty on the area.

Sovereignty at risk

Though media reports have conflicted with each other on the opening of the Xisha Islands to the public, the Yexiang Princess was designated as the sole ship allowed to sail the new route.

In November, Hainan Strait Shipping secured approval from the Hainan Provincial Department of Communications to open a new ecological tourism route from Sanya to Xisha North Reef and nearby islets, with a one-year preparation period.

Huang Peng, a deputy director of the Hainan Provincial Department of Communications said that the route is scheduled to take two days, with the one-way journey lasting about 10 hours, the China News Service reported.

The company's board secretary Zhou Naijun said that the route is still under preparation, and that the company is still awaiting all the correct documentation, the Securities Daily reported, adding that the company has started negotiating with travel companies to sell tickets.

Lu Zhiyuan, director of the Hainan Tourism Development Commission, said Thursday that Hainan has been seeking how to best develop new maritime tourism projects but would act prudently in the tourism development of the Xisha Islands, the Yangcheng Evening News reported.

Though some believe that such development would damage the local environment, more people support this opening-up, both for tourism and sovereignty reasons.

Given that Vietnam and the Philippines have long been conducting tourism development on parts of the Nansha Islands and oil exploitation in surrounding waters, China's moves are far less radical, online comments have said.

"Maritime tourism development will help enhance people's marine security awareness and national pride," Deng Zongde, a researcher with the Tourism Research Center at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

"In general, the development would bring more good than harm, considering its significant political meaning," Zhao Zhangyuan, a professor with the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, told the Global Times.