Therapeutic tourism has become trendy vacation for foreign tourists in south China's Sanya City with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) favored as the best-chosen therapy, which lure growing streams of tourists for relaxation, refreshment and rehabilitation.
Inbound tourism has been recovering in Sanya since the resumption of international flights in July 2023 following the pandemic waning.
Additionally, the loosening restrictions of visa policies in Hainan has also contributed to the surge of inbound tourists.
Hainan, a popular tourist destination known for its rain-forests and vacation beaches, has expanded its visa-free policy for citizens from 59 countries.
Like many tourist attractions, TCM clinics in Sanya have also witnessed a notable increase in the number of international visitors.
In some clinics, foreign visitors even account for as much as two-thirds of the total number of patients.
"We come from Russia. My waist hurts, but after receiving treatment here for four days, I'm feeling a bit better. Now, it's convenient to come to Sanya due to the visa-free policy," said a tourist from Russia.
To enhance the convenience of medical services for international visitors, certain TCM hospitals and clinics in Sanya have implemented measures such as offering translation services and accepting foreign card payments through POS machines.
"We have established a treatment department specifically designed to cater to the needs of foreign visitors. This department offers translation services in both English and Russian, making it easier for them to receive treatment," said Sa Ren, deputy head with Sanya International Friendship Sanatorium of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
In the first half of 2024, Sanya received a total of 319,800 overnight inbound tourists, spending a total of 225.41 million U.S. dollars, according to data from the department of tourism, culture, radio, television and sports in Sanya.
Therapeutic tourism becomes trendy vacation for foreign tourists in Sanya
Consumption continued to heat up during the three-day Qingming Festival holiday from Friday to Sunday, as China's consumer goods trade-in programs have gained traction, and its diversified cultural offerings have stimulated new spending needs. At a car dealership in Wuhan City of central China's Hubei Province, consumers are keen to test drive a new energy vehicle with outstanding battery life as the province has beefed up its support for electric car purchase.
"The maximum subsidy for replacing a used car is 44,000 yuan (about 6,000 U.S. dollars), which is quite attractive to me," said a consumer surnamed Wan. In Shanghai, the Bingang shopping mall started trial operation during the holiday and provides citizens and tourists with a wide range of entertainment experiences by empowering more than a dozen performing arts and entertainment spaces of different sizes with high technology.
"We have introduced more than 20 different types of pan-entertainment experiences. We hope to create a destination for cultural entertainment-induced consumption by gathering different types of entertainment," said Wu Jiuying, marketing manager of the Shanghai Bingang shopping mall.
The Qingming Festival holiday has also given a boost to the domestic box office, with dozens of films released.
As of 21:00 on Sunday, China's total box office revenue for the three-day holiday had surpassed 377 million yuan (approximately 51.5 million U.S. dollars), according to data from online platforms.
The U.S. produced film "A Minecraft Movie", Chinese crime thriller "We Girls", animated blockbuster "Ne Zha 2", crime drama "Mumu" and police action movie "Fox Hunt" are currently ranked as the top five.
April 4 marked this year's Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, a traditional Chinese festival for people to pay tribute to the deceased and to worship their ancestors. Increasing numbers of people nowadays also use the holiday as an occasion to make spring outing and enjoy leisure entertainment.
China sees strong spike in Qingming Festival spending
