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HAIKOU /China/, October 21. /TASS/. In January-September, the yachting business in the resort city of Sanya on the coast of Hainan Island recorded a three-fold rise in new operators year-on-year. The municipal authorities registered another 25 businesses in the first nine months of the year, Sanya Ribao reported. Sanya Ribao correspondents noted that the yachting business in Sanya has been developing dynamically thanks to the policy of preferences and transparency of the Hainan Free Trade Port. CEO of Hainan Atlantis Yacht Club Meng Xiangrui explained that Sanya was “a strategic choice based on the perspectives of the free trade port and advantages of the [local] industrial park.” According to the businessman, owing to zero duties on a wide assortment of products, his company has the opportunity to significantly cut the costs of the import of prestigious yachts and components for them. Also, measures facilitating transborder payments help him save more than 20 million yuan (around $2.8 million) in operational costs annually. Besides, the newspaper continued, the central business district in Sanya which hosts yachting operators has specialized marinas that can dock 52-meter-long superyachts as well as hundreds of berths. As cooperation with the leading operators in the sphere is established, new products for holidaymaking at sea are developed. The authors of the article highlighted how Sanya is becoming a testing ground for innovation in yachting, with the Chinese International Consumer Goods Fair, an annual spring event in Haikou, the administrative center of Hainan, and a yacht design competition held regularly in the province playing an important role in developing this cluster. The island transitioning to a new model of customs control on December 18 is expected to give a powerful impetus to business projects associated with yachts. Sanya plays a key role in developing China’s sailing sports. According to official data, in 2024, over 1,400 yachts were registered in the city. Those performed 128,000 trips, accommodating more than 900,000 tourists in 12 months.
