SANYA -- Conrad Hotels & Resorts announces the opening of its first luxury Conrad property in Mainland China, Conrad Sanya Haitang Bay, on picturesque Hainan Island, which is developed by Wanda Group, a leading real estate developer in China.

“Offering a world of style, service, and connection, Conrad Hotels & Resorts are designed for today’s affluent travelers; we provide the services and amenities for our guests to enjoy the luxury of being themselves. Conrad Sanya Haitang Bay exudes the Conrad spirit of individuality and commitment to service and will further advance the brand’s reach in the world’s premier locations and most sought-after resort destinations,” said John Vanderslice, Global Head, Luxury and Lifestyle Brand, Hilton Worldwide.

“Hilton’s presence in China continues to grow and we are honored to be the first to provide the ultimate in world-class luxury hospitality and service in Haitang Bay. The expansion of Conrad Hotels & Resorts further into the mainland China market is a significant milestone and this magnificent hotel will cater to the needs of the increasing number of discerning travelers to this fast-growing resort destination,” said Martin Rinck, President, Asia Pacific, Hilton Worldwide.

Architecturally inspired by the French Riviera style, the 101 luxurious villas and rooms at Conrad Sanya Haitang Bay overlook the ocean, lagoons or gardens, each with a private pool, sun loungers and cabana, surrounded by lush foliage.

The property has four restaurants and bars, offering the best in international cuisine, contemporary Hainan and Cantonese cuisine, as well as seafood fresh from the warm local tropical waters.

For recreation, guests can head straight to the white sandy beach or just relax by the two stunning outdoor swimming pools. The property also features a fully-equipped fitness centre, tennis courts and a kids club. The spa is designed to provide a soothing, relaxing and tranquil atmosphere with a full range of treatments using the highest quality international spa products.

For sightseeing, several exciting tourist attractions are within easy access from the resort. Guests can experience culture and exhilarating water sports in a tropical setting at Wuzhizhou Island, or head to Nantian Hot Spring to enjoy the healing benefits of natural spring and ‘fish therapy’. World-class golf courses dot around the Sanya area, such as Clear Water Bay Golf Club, Sun Valley Golf Glub, Yalong Bay Golf Club, and Luhuitou Golf Club, all within a short drive from the resort.

A 1,290-square meter Grand Ballroom, complete with a 440-square meter foyer and a wide range of function rooms, enables Conrad Sanya Haitang Bay to accommodate meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition (MICE) events of any kind.

The beach at Sanya Bay has been deteriorating for years, not at all curbed by this year's artificial refill of sands attempted to keep its shape. Now experts are suggesting Sanya Bay charge an entrance fee to reduce damages incurred by visitors. Does that mean tourists and local residents are to blame for the Eco-disaster at Sanya Bay? And will that work toward restoring a beautiful Sanya bay as it used to be.

As a reminder, Sanya Bay is just one of the three developed beaches around Sanya city. The other two - Yalong Bay and Dadonghai - are way earlier developed, far more famous thus far more frequented by visitors, yet both are still in far better status. The conspicuous contrast prods us to look for other reasons for the disaster in Sanya Bay.

Thanks to these experts reminding us that 'sandy beaches are invaluable natural assets that are formed through tens of thousands or even hundreds of millions of years of evolution. Nevertheless, once destroyed they're very difficult to or in some cases never recover.'

Whether or not the Sanya municipal government admits it, the fact remains Sanya Bay only started to deteriorate with the construction of an artificial islet, attractively named 'Phoenix Island', which diverted the flow of waves within Sanya Bay, resulting in faster erosion and weakened resilience of the sands.

It's so obvious that Sanya government had wrongly ratified a destructive development in Sanya Bay that's destroying a masterpiece of nature, and now they are trying to avert our eyes from the marvelous ‘Phoenix Island’ by blaming tourists and local residents for the Eco-disaster staged in Sanya Bay. We Sanya people must be proud how smart our leaders are.

Sanya -- a Vietnamese ship capsized Thursday morning in stormy waves 110 nautical miles west of Sanya, a touristy city on China's Hainan Island. Rescuers from Sanya South China Sea Salvage Bureau have found two survivors Friday morning 20 nautical miles from where the ship capsized and are still searching for the missing 25 men.

China Duty Free Group (CDFG) recently completed the third phase of Sanya Downtown Duty Free Store on Hainan Island featuring an array of top-notch fashion brands including Gucci, Tiffany, Burberry, Salvatore Ferragamo, Ermenegildo Zegna Sport, Bally, Coach, Tumi, MCM, Dunhill and Hugo Boss.

The new zone, including boutiques dedicated to leading fashion and jewellery brands, covers an area of 3,600sq m, expanding the total retail zone to 7,000sq m.

CDFG said the Sanya store marks the entry to the Chinese duty free market for Gucci and Tiffany, and represents the exclusive duty free boutique in mainland China for Coach as well as the largest dedicated to Burberry, Hugo Boss, Zegna Sport, Ferragamo, Bally, MCM, Dunhill in China.

The design of the luxury fashion galleria at Sanya is inspired by a concept of starry night sky, the tropical features of Hainan Island, along with consumer preference for relaxation. By integrating Hainan natural elements into the design, CDFG wanted to create a downtown shop that tells customers they are in Sanya rather than in Beijing or Hong Kong.

CDFG believes that Sanya Duty Free Store, as the largest and top-end duty-free store in China, will welcome international travelers from all over the world with a completely new image.

China currently only allows duty free sales to flights outside of mainland China, but qualified buyers including those from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, account for less than 10% of tourists visiting Sanya, so the potential for CDFG domestic market in Sanya is huge. With Chinese State Council reportedly considering a proposal to allow mainland Chinese travelers to buy duty free goods before they leave Sanya, the strong trading at the Sanya store could also create a scenario in Hainan Island similar to South Korea’s Jeju Island, where Korean travelers are allowed to purchase duty free.

Invested by Huaneng Hainan Power Company and standing at the east coast of Wenchang city, Hainan's first megawatt wind power plant presents a unique landscape with its huge wind turbines blossoming by the sea.

Nov. 21, Hainan Changjiang Nuclear Power Station started its Unit 2 engineering, a landmark in the first phase construction involving a total investment of more than 20 billion yuan.

Just a month ago, Hina Group - one of the largest new energy companies in China - decided to setup its photovoltaic research, development, and manufacturing base in Haikou Comprehensive Free Trade Zone, betting an investment of 17.5 billion yuan in Hainan to build up 1,000-megawatt thin film solar cells, 100-megawatt solar energy demonstration power plant, research and development center for clean energy, and technical training centers.

Meanwhile Yingli Group - a photovoltaic manufacturing giant in China - will build up an Eco-Industrial Park in Hainan in 3-5 years, which will include projects like large-capacity PV storage and international logistics centers, with a total investment amounting to 15 billion yuan.

In the first year of building Hainan into an International Tourism Island and amid worldwide promotion of development and utilization of non-fossil energy sources, Hainan is speeding up its optimal adjustment of energy structure by absorbing huge investments from domestic giants of new energy corporations, reaffirming that the full utilization of nuclear, wind, solar and biomass energy resources caters to the green tone of developing Hainan into an International Tourism Island.

November 16, the State Council of China noticed the Hainan Provincial Government and Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development that the overall plan of Sanya City shall be submitted to the State Council for final approval, further highlighting Sanya's value as China’s unique tropical resort city.

Currently in China there're over 80 cities whose master plans should seek final approval by the State Council, including 27 provincial capitals, 4 provincial municipalities that are directly under central government, and other cities deemed by the state council to have special significance either economically, historically, culturally or in tourism.

Starting and ending in Sanya the 2010 Tour of Hainan Cycling Race features a resort route traversing more than 1,000 miles of Hainan terrain over a mix of mountain, sprint and downtown stages through picturesque cities: Sanya, Lingshui, Baoting, Five-Finger-Mountain, Qiongzhong, Xinglong, Chengmai, Tunchang, Danzhou, Baisha, Changjiang, Dongfang and Ledong.

This afternoon, over 50 well-known Australian tour operators and travel agents arrived and started their FAM tour in Sanya, Hainan, China. It's agreed that three intercontinental travel itineraries from Australia to Hainan will be launched in July.

During the Sanya tourism promotion meeting held in the Horizon Resort & Spa, these Australian guests showed great interest in tourism products marketed by Nanshan Buddhism Culture Park, The Caves of Heaven, and Marriott Resort.

The travel cooperation between Hainan and Australia has long been active in small scales, while the Fam trip in Sanya by tour operators from Australia is triggering a large-scale cooperation in the Asia-Pacific travel market. Hainan Golf Vacation among other travel products is the favorite of Australian tourists. While Hainan is striving to become an international tourism island, both sides are avid to fully upgrade their tourism cooperation.

Starting from July, three intercontinental travel routes - "Australia - Vietnam - Hainan", "Australia - Hong Kong - Hainan", and "Australia - Taiwan - Hainan" - will be fully launched, unfolding an intriguing island trip for Australian tourists through Haikou, Sanya, Boao, and Xinglong.

Though Australia also boasts high-quality coastal resorts and tourism resources, its supportive tourist facilities failed to keep abreast with Sanya. Besides, Australians are keen on Asian tours, while the performance-price ratio of tours in Hainan is higher than in Thailand, Vietnam and other traditional resort destinations popular amongst Australian tourists. In addition, geographically Hainan and Australia are mutually complementary in term of tour seasons, projecting very promising trend of bilateral cooperation.

Australian tour operators hope that direct charter flights to Sanya should be launched as soon as possible, thus enabling more Australian tourists to travel to Hainan with more ease.

It is estimated that the three intercontinental flights will bring at least 10,000 Australian tourists to Hainan annually.

Tomorrow, they will go to the West Island, Nantian Hot Spring, Monkey Island, etc. to check out some of the featured travel products in Sanya Hainan China.

This morning the signing ceremony for 2011-2012 Volvo Ocean Race Chinese Stopover was celebrated at Beijing’s Chang’an Club and the mysterious Chinese stopover for the closely watched new racing season was finally unveiled – Sanya, China's only tropical city, has become the only stopover and reception city in Asia for 2011-2012 Volvo Ocean Race. Representatives from the Water Sports Management Center of China State Sports General Administration, Hainan Provincial Government, Sanya municipal government and the Volvo Ocean Race event management company attended and witnessed this important moment.

Jan 4th, China's State Council released "A Number of Opinions on Boosting the Construction and Development of Hainan International Tourism Island" (hereinafter referred to as "Opinion"), which elevated the building of Hainan International Tourism Island onto the level of a national strategy. The "Opinion" pointed out six strategic orientations for the development of Hainan island:

1. Test area for reforms and innovation in China's tourism industry;
2. World-class destination for island vacations;
3. National Demonstration Zone of Ecological Civilization;
4. Important Platform for international economic cooperation and cultural exchange;
5. Development & Service base for South China Sea Resources;
6. National base of tropical modern agriculture.

While setting a clear direction for the future development of Hainan province, China’s central government also backs up the development of it's unique tropical island with a series of preferential policies on investment, financing, taxation, land and industrial permits. In short, Hainan will enjoy the same preferential policies as the western regions of China. In particular, qualified tourism enterprises will be encouraged to issue corporate bonds, and establish investment funds for the tourism industry. A more convenient entry-exit management measures are implemented. Five more countires - Finland, Denmark, Norway, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan - are included into visa-free countries for Hainan, thus increasing the total number to 26. Hainan’s tourism industry is further opened up. Domestic and overseas large-scale tourism enterprises are encouraged to operate in Hainan, nurturing competition among key enterprises and famous travel brand names. Xisha Islands tourism is also expected to achieve a breakthrough.

Since the development of tourism is closely related with the entertainment industry, the "Opinions" permits Hainan to practise a number of international popular tourist sports and related entertainment projects, encouraging Hainan to explore the development of pari-mutuel sports lottery and instant lottery for large-scale international events.

It’s not difficult to envision Sanya becoming a paradise for gambling and lottery in the near future since already there’s been lots of underground gambling in Sanya China.