Sanya, China, is rapidly strengthening its position as a world-class tourist destination through its innovative “Airline+Marketing” strategy. On October 8, a Belavia Airlines flight from Minsk marked the latest addition to Sanya’s expanding international network. Within four days, the city launched three new routes — connecting Minsk, Ulaanbaatar, Ulan-Ude, and Kuala Lumpur.
This expansion underscores Sanya’s ambition to reach new markets across Central Asia, Europe, and Southeast Asia. With a total of 38 international routes now linking the city to 29 overseas destinations including Bangkok, Frankfurt, Seoul, and St. Petersburg, Sanya continues to elevate its global tourism appeal.
During the recent summer season, while much of the Northern Hemisphere endured scorching heat, Sanya stood out with its unique maritime climate, forest coverage exceeding 70%, and pleasant average temperatures of 26°C (78.8°F).
“The breeze in Sanya feels like nature’s air conditioning!” exclaimed German tourist Mark as he stepped out of airport. His travel inspiration came from the “Frankfurt-Bangkok-Sanya” flight route trending on Instagram.
For the first Fifth Freedom scheduled passenger flight linking Hainan Free Trade Port with Europe, Sanya collaborated with top aviation influencers to create travel content. The campaign achieved viral success with over 10 million impressions by August, trending worldwide on social media platforms.
This is not the only example of drawing visitors with air routes. Centering on the “Sanya-Minsk” route, Sanya has participated for two consecutive years in the tourism promotion conferences held in Minsk to showcase tourism offerings to the Belarusian market, enhancing Sanya’s global visibility.
In fact, thanks to the strategy that links route expansion with destination marketing, Sanya is fast emerging as a world-class tourist destination. According to official statistics, Sanya received over 700,000 international overnight visitors in the first three quarters of this year, setting a new historical record for the same period.
Sanya has developed customized marketing strategies for each connected flight region: targeting the domestic market, Sanya collaborated with China’s leading e-commerce platform Meituan to launch tourism promotion campaigns, offering thousands of discounted travel packages and achieving more than 500 million online impressions. For Hong Kong, China, tailor-made tourism products such as “1.5 Hours to Paradise” are launched on the Klook platform, driving a year-on-year increase of 87.47% in the number of Hong Kong visitors during the first seven months. For South Korea, travel agencies, media, and associations are invited to visit Sanya to pinpoint tourists’ preferences. For Cambodia, an MoU was signed in early September in this Cambodia-China Tourism Year 2025 between the Sanya Tourism Board and the Cambodia Tourism Board, and Minea Kim, CEO of the latter, called this move a “commitment to friendship and long-term collaboration.”
This “precision matching” strategy proved effective during summer tourism. Teens enjoyed coastal sports at the International Junior Sports Carnival, while families experienced child-friendly events at the Children’s Drama Festival. Health-conscious visitors queued for TCM (traditional Chinese medicine)-inspired drinks at Dadonghai Beach, and trendy consumers engaged with Pop Mart’s DIMOO immersive art campaign.
Tourism momentum has directly fueled spending growth. In the first three quarters of 2025, overnight international visitors spent more than $600 million in Sanya. In addition to the core advantages of duty-free shopping, details such as multilingual services and fusion cuisines also make visitors’ journeys smooth and pleasant.
“Sanya is a great city for travel, where warmth and friendliness can be felt everywhere,” praised Yerkebulan Tynymov, a Russian tourist who visited the city for the first time.
At present, Sanya Phoenix International Airport is accelerating the third-phase expansion, expected to be completed by year-end, boosting annual passenger capacity to 30 million upon operation.
According to an official of the Sanya Tourism Board, the city will introduce more diverse tourism products and consumption experiences to accommodate the preferences of global visitors.
