From “Sanya Is Too Expensive” to a Spring Festival Surge: Who’s Flocking There This Year?

If the 2026 Spring Festival crowd in Sanya could be summed up in one sentence, tour guide Ayu would describe them with three keywords: younger, more international, and more enthusiastic about shopping.

“I stayed in the same place last year, but this year, the landlord told me just one day before departure that the house was no longer available and asked me to figure it out myself.”

Mr. Li from Beijing has spent his winters in Sanya for years. As early as the beginning of last December, he had booked a homestay for more than half a month. This year, however, he encountered his first-ever last-minute cancellation.

When Mr. Li made the reservation in early December, the price was RMB 8,499. By January 25, when he checked similar listings nearby, prices for the same period had surged to RMB 30,000–40,000—three to four times higher than before.

Mr. Li’s experience is far from isolated. According to data obtained by reporters from online travel agencies, by early February the average airfare for flights arriving at Sanya Phoenix International Airport and Haikou Meilan International Airport during the Spring Festival peak (February 13–19) had reached approximately RMB 1,815, representing a year-on-year increase of 116%. Meanwhile, average hotel prices in Sanya during the peak check-in period (February 15–20) rose by more than 200% compared with the previous year.

The narrative that “Sanya is too expensive to visit” is being told again and again. Yet in Ayu’s view, having worked as a guide in Sanya for seven years, the city has never been cheap—it has always been expensive. What truly stands out this year is a new generation of visitors reshaping the city’s consumption logic.

Every day, Ayu receives 500 to 600 inquiries through social media, more than 30% of which come from those born after 1995 or 2000. Compared with last year, inquiries from these younger travelers have doubled.

Spring Festival tourism rebounds strongly as Sanya regains its spotlight.

Compared with last year, Ayu clearly feels that visitors have returned to Sanya this Spring Festival.

During the 2025 Spring Festival, a combination of factors—including negative publicity from tourist congestion incidents on Xidao and Wuzhizhou Island, the amplification of Sanya’s “high-consumption” label, and the diversion of travelers to cost-effective destinations such as Harbin’s ice-and-snow tourism—led to a noticeable decline in visitor numbers. Official data showed that in the first four days of the 2025 Spring Festival, visitor volumes at major attractions in Sanya dropped by more than 20% year-on-year, earning the label of “the quietest Spring Festival” in industry circles.

In contrast, the 2026 Spring Festival—the first since Hainan began island-wide closed-loop customs operations—has seen Sanya’s tourism popularity rebound at a much stronger pace.

Data from multiple online travel platforms show that Sanya, with a year-on-year pre-booking growth of over 100%, has emerged as one of the top “dark horse” destinations in China. Together with Haikou, it ranks among the most popular domestic flight destinations for the Spring Festival. According to Tongcheng Travel, as of January 27, overall hotel bookings in Hainan during the Spring Festival surged by 191% year-on-year, with Sanya hotel bookings rising by 167%.

Qunar data further reveals that Sanya’s Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone and Yazhou Bay Sci-Tech City business district topped the national ranking for hotel booking growth, with a 1.8-fold increase. The Dadonghai–Luhuitou–Peninsula business district followed closely with a 1.6-fold increase, placing it among the national leaders.

According to data provided by Yanoda Rainforest Cultural Tourism Zone, a well-known 5A scenic attraction within the “Greater Sanya Tourism Circle,” the implementation of free trade port policies has prompted visitors to arrive earlier ahead of the holiday. Visitor numbers before the festival increased by more than 25% year-on-year, while bookings during the holiday rose by over 20%.

The surge has also spread to travel agencies. Ayu entered “full-capacity mode” as early as December 8, 2025, handling six tour groups back-to-back within a month—a more than 50% increase compared with the same period last year. He also noticed that traffic congestion in Sanya has become increasingly severe.

“Near Coconut Dream Corridor in Sanya Bay, even when parking signs show zero available spaces, dozens of business vans still line up along the main road, waiting from 4 p.m. until late evening,” Ayu said.

A shifting visitor profile: younger, more international, and more shopping-oriented.

So who exactly is traveling to Sanya this Spring Festival? Ayu’s answer is clear.

Among the six tour groups he recently guided, two consisted primarily of travelers born after 1995 and 2000—something that was rarely seen in the past. In previous years, his itinerary during the same period was dominated by family trips with children. Since Hainan’s closed-loop customs operations began, Ayu has seen a surge in inquiries from young travelers, with one-third of his daily messages coming from this demographic.

A Tongcheng Travel report shows that the Spring Festival visitor structure in Hainan is becoming more balanced and younger. While post-80s families with children remain the core travel group, post-90s and post-00s travelers, along with the “new silver generation” born after 1975, are becoming increasingly active. Together, these groups account for over 10 percentage points more than in previous years.

Why has the number of young travelers surged so sharply this year? Beyond the warm climate and photogenic scenery, Ayu believes duty-free shopping has become a major draw.

To accommodate this interest, Ayu typically schedules visits to Sanya International Duty Free Shopping Complex or Hainan Tourism Duty Free City during the final half-day of his tours. In the past, travelers often resisted shopping stops and would explicitly state beforehand that they had no intention of buying anything. This year, however, more young travelers are proactively asking about duty-free shopping options.

“Some of them don’t fully understand how duty-free shopping works,” Ayu explained. “Once you clarify it for them, their curiosity skyrockets—they really want to see how much cheaper it can be.”

What often follows is spending far beyond expectations. “They might plan to spend a few thousand yuan, but end up buying RMB 20,000 to 30,000 worth of goods.”

Electronics and skincare products are among the most popular categories. Smartphones can be RMB 700–800 cheaper than official retail prices, laptops over RMB 1,000 cheaper, and some visitors even ask Ayu to help them purchase iPhones on their behalf.

On January 30, during a visit to Hainan Tourism Duty Free City, Ayu encountered a young couple that left a lasting impression. The woman kept picking out items until she could barely carry her shopping bags of cosmetics and skincare products, while the man tried unsuccessfully to stop her. “She said, ‘I don’t come to Sanya very often,’” Ayu recalled.

In Ayu’s seven years as a guide, this shift—from reluctant acceptance to eager anticipation of shopping—has been the most striking change. At the same time, another transformation has been unfolding beyond China’s borders.

According to Qunar, inbound flight bookings to Sanya on January 1 surged fivefold year-on-year, leading the nation. From January 1 to 7, inbound visitor numbers increased by 28%, with travelers from visa-free countries such as South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia forming the core of international arrivals.

Yanoda Rainforest also reported a more than 30% year-on-year increase in overseas visitors since the customs policy change. During the Spring Festival, international travelers have become a key consumption driver. Hotel operators in Sanya noted occupancy rates of 85% to 90% throughout the holiday, with overseas guests accounting for nearly half of all visitors.

“Russian tourists filling Sanya’s beaches” is no longer a novelty. Ayu frequently encounters Russian families at scenic spots, restaurants, and duty-free malls.

What surprised him this year, however, was the emergence of long-haul European travelers. Ahead of the Spring Festival, Ayu received his first inquiries from visitors with IP addresses in the UK, Finland, and Norway. One Chinese-speaking guest with an Asian appearance contacted him to arrange a private business vehicle and guide for a group of British friends visiting Hainan.

“Long-distance European travelers like this were extremely rare in the past,” Ayu said.

Looking back at the 2026 Spring Festival season, Ayu’s summary remains concise and confident: Sanya’s visitors are younger, more international, and more passionate about shopping than ever before.