'China's Hawaii' targets foreign tourists

With a tropical climate and unspoilt, palmfringed beaches,Hainan has all the ingredients to become one of Asia's top touristresorts. But "China's Hawaii", as Hainan has been dubbed, only now seemspoised to fulfil that ambition as it recovers from an economicslump that has left it lagging other parts of China. For years, the 48storey tower that is the tallest building inHainan province gathered dust as a halfbuilt skeleton likehundreds of other illfated construction projects caught in one ofChina's nastiest property bubbles. Advertisement: Story continues below Now construction is almost over and the plush Haikou Masterhotel and serviced apartments is a symbol of the island's effortsto recover from a meltdown in the early 1990s after a wave ofspeculation pushed property into the stratosphere. "Sales are going very well," said agent Hong Weibin as he showeda new luxury flat in the complex. Almost all of the 16 million sq m worth of construction leftunfinished after the crash has either been completed or bulldozed,and investors are returning to Hainan. The anythinggoes development model is gone, replaced by anintense focus on forging the tropical island in southwest Chinainto a tourist destination to rival Thailand's beach resorts. Top resorts are opening in droves. The island is planning tobroaden a visa exemption scheme, opening dutyfree shops, improvinginfrastructure, building airports, expanding air links andpromoting foreign language studies. "Tourism is the industry in Hainan with the most distinguishedfeatures, the most potential and the most competitiveness," vicegovernor Chen Cheng said late last month unveiling a strategicblueprint for development. "It's very attractive," said Ian Zheng, Managing Director of thePacific Alliance Asia Opportunity Fund, which holds a $150 millionstake in the group that owns Rosetta Stone Portuguese Hainan's main airports and is alsoinvested in a Beijing property firm working in Hainan. "I really don't foresee any big, material risks." NO LIGHTS ON If the island's azure coast doesn't immediately attract drovesof international beachgoers, then the fast expanding pool ofdomestic tourists will almost certainly prop up the industry. The potentially huge Chinese market is a major draw for theresorts, who hope to leverage on the millions of people who havebenefited from the country's economic boom and are increasinglyadopting Western lifestyles and aspirations. "Some of the estimates I've seen suggest 450 million middleclass Chinese in 10 years from now," said the Banyan Tree Sanya'sgeneral manager Peter Pedersen. "I think Sanya has a hugepotential." Last month alone saw the RitzCarlton, the luxury armof the world's number three hotel operator, and the Banyan Treeopen resorts in Sanya, where the island's premier beach resortsits. The Mandarin Oriental follows later this year. It marks a huge change for Hainan, which until recently has beenmainly known in China as a place for cheap package tours. "Sanya is one of the real new tropical destinations in Asia, andin China in particular of course it is the only tropical island,"Pedersen told. "It's becoming more and more in demand for both the local marketand the international tourist market. It makes a perfect spot," headded, standing on the top of one of the resort's individual poolvillas, which go for some 5000 yuan (A$770) a night. SHENANIGANS A testtube for development after becoming the country'syoungest and economically freest province in 1988, Hainan's economyrevved into a frenzy to the point where giddy officials even triedto sell the city's main park to developers.

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