BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Cultural tourism, new energy vehicle, financial services…multiple industries in China's Hainan Province are embracing new development opportunities with policy support from government at both central and provincial level.
Data shows that Hainan has arranged 70 key provincial projects this year focusing on different areas, with a total investment of 643.4 billion yuan (92.92 billion U.S. dollars).
-- New opportunities for cultural tourism
Hainan will increase the number of inbound tourists by 25 percent to surpass 2 million by 2020, according to a three-year action plan (2018-2020) released recently by the local authorities.
In July, the Hainan Tourism Development Commission and the world's leading travel group Thomas Cook formed strategic partnership. According to the agreement, the group will establish a joint-venture travel agency with Fosun International Limited in Sanya, popular tourism destination in Hainan, to promote inbound tourism and internationalization in Hainan.
Zhou Ping, deputy director of Hainan Tourism Development Commission, said that Hainan will strengthen cooperation and exchanges with Hong Kong to attract more foreign tourists.
It is expected that in the second half of 2018, Hainan will accelerate the opening of duty-free shops in Haikou and the construction of duty-free shops in Qionghai.
In addition, Hainan intends to allow entertainment venues in particular areas of Hainan to operate overnight, starting from Haikou and Sanya.
-- Accelerate new energy vehicle development
At the end of July, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the Hainan provincial government signed a strategic cooperation agreement, to promote the application of new energy vehicle and related industries in Hainan.
As for Chinese car companies, FAW Group said it's willing to deepen cooperation with Hainan and help build the province into China (Hainan) Pilot Free Trade Zone (Port), and electric car company Nio has recently set up a branch in the province.
At present, Hainan is speeding up the construction of charging stations, and will accelerate transformation of the existing traditional gas stations, enabling them to recharge electric cars.
-- Pilot financial innovation
In June, the Hainan provincial government held a conference to discuss Internet cooperation with foreign financial institutions, in a bid to help the province’s mobile payment and consumer finance business go global. Participants of the discussion included Nomura Holdings, HSBC Group, Citibank, Morgan Stanley Bank International and Barclays.
In August, China Galaxy Financial Holdings Company Limited and the Department of Science and Technology of Hainan Province signed a framework agreement to build an international offshore innovation and entrepreneurship park, and set up a special fund and an equity fund for the development of finance innovation. (Edited by Li Wenxin, Yang Qi, liwenxin@xinhua.org)
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