Hainan's launch of a six-day visa-free policy for foreign tour groups entering the island province from Hong Kong or Macao is expected to attract a significant influx of tourists.
Starting from Tuesday, people from countries with diplomatic relations with China can visit the southern island province of Hainan visa-free for 144 hours via tour groups registered in Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, said the National Immigration Administration.
The tropical island province stated that it will further optimize the customs clearance and enrich tourism products to promote the growth in inbound tourism.
"In Hainan, the border inspection agencies have introduced biometric data collection equipment at international airports in Haikou, Sanya, Boao, and other places, greatly cutting time that passengers spend on customs clearance. At Haikou Meilan International Airport, the verification channels have been increased from eight to 18, and the fast lanes have been expanded from six to 24," said Luo Zhengyu, deputy director of the Haikou General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection.
Data show that in the first half of this year, Hainan attracted nearly 500,000 inbound tourists, a year-on-year increase of more than 251 percent. During the peak summer tourism season, the island has become one of the popular destinations for Hong Kong and Macao residents as well as foreign tourists. Air passenger trips between Hong Kong and Hainan have increased nearly 40 percent year on year.
To cope with various demands from tourists, the province has also launched customized tourism products.
"More than 20 tourism products and routes tailored for this policy have been developed. We also added customized inbound tourism products that contain flights connecting Hong Kong or Macao to Sanya, as well as various hotel accommodations," explained Liu Cheng, deputy director of the Hainan Provincial Department of Culture, Radio, Film, Television, Publications and Sports at a press conference on Wednesday.
Hainan prepares for tourism surge following new six-day visa-free policy
An European media industry leader highlighted the transformative influence of artificial intelligence (AI) on the industry, stressing the importance of exchange and cooperation among global media outlets.
The 12th Global Video Media Forum (VMF) opened in Quanzhou City on Tuesday. The two-day event has brought together around 200 representatives from mainstream media and international organizations across more than 60 countries and regions to the historic coastal city under the theme "Intelligence Without Frontiers, Vision Beyond The Horizon - Media's Role in Communication and Cultural Exchange."
In a sidelines interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Adrian Wells, Managing Director of the European News Exchange, a global news provider, shared his insights on how embracing AI and fostering media cooperation can further improve the industry.
"In the professional broadcast and digital industry, we have enough intelligence to know that we have to embrace this technology. We have to take the best parts of it. We have to integrate it with what we already have, our experience, our professionalism, admission for our consumers. Actually, media is in a very challenging environment now. We do have a lot of threats to our traditional ways of going about things. We have to use these new technologies like AI in order to transform ourselves. And we really have to be at the forefront of embracing it, not resisting it," Wells said.
Wells also suggested that media organizations can improve by learning from their counterparts, adapting successful strategies, and incorporating solutions from different environments to enhance their own operations.
"How do we really go about finding those right choices? It's by looking at what everyone else is doing, taking the best of how different organizations are using new technologies, adapting their business models, trying to reach consumers in a different way. And really cherry-picking the best examples, the best use cases across the industry to try and reimagine what we're doing in our own environments, whether it's in China, in the United Kingdom, in the United States or in any European country. Look across the industry who is doing what, how are they solving some of these problems and use that as a kind of nice salad mixture to try and find the solutions in your own newsroom organization," he said.
In addition, Wells highlighted the forum's positive role in promoting global media exchange and collaboration.
"I think that if you ask anyone about cooperation and collaboration, everyone's for it, right? It's a no-brainer. Of course, we want to collaborate. We want to cooperate. But actually, when you come to collaborating and cooperating, it's actually a bit of a pain as well, because you got to devote time for reaching out, to be aware of what other industries are doing, what your colleagues are doing across the industry," Wells said.
So, I think the good thing about this forum is that we're in an environment now where we can mix, you've got a lot of different people from news organizations, from different parts of the world that have got different ideas. And I think we all learn a lot from hearing about different experiences across the world, and really trying to sort of create some of these ties. Otherwise, if we don't make that effort, they just won't be there," said the industry insider.
European media professional highlights AI power, global exchange in industry
