Because of the corona situation, hotels have now offered price reductions of 50 percent for stuck travelers, reports the newspaper “Global Times”. About 80,000 tourists are currently stranded in Sanya, most of whom are staying in low-risk Sanya Bay and Yalong Bay, according to He Shigang, the city’s deputy mayor. Around 30,000 are accommodated in hotels, and many Chinese also have their own holiday apartments in Sanya, where they are now staying temporarily. The southern Chinese island province of Hainan consists of several islands and has a population of more than ten million people. The largest island is also called Hainan and is also known as “China’s Hawaii” because of its tropical climate. At the southern tip lies the city of Sanya.
Because of the country’s rigorous zero-Covid policy, tourists are only allowed to leave Sanya following a seven-day risk assessment. Public transport was stopped on Saturday. Railway authorities have banned ticket sales in Sanya. According to state television, Sanya Airport canceled all flights on Sunday – the previous day there were 164 machines.
A video posted on social media showed travelers at the airport shouting “We want to go home!” while an official struggled through a bullhorn to explain that they needed to return to their hotels. Flights to Sanya were reversed on the way there, as “Yicai.com” reports. Airline ticket prices from Sanya have skyrocketed. According to the Global Times, economy class tickets for flights from Sanya to Shanghai are sold for the equivalent of around 435 euros, while business class tickets cost around 4,700 euros.