SANYA, China 15 October 2025: Sanya witnessed a rapid expansion of its international air routes last week, as a Belavia Airlines flight landed at Sanya Phoenix International Airport, marking the inaugural flight on the route Sanya-Minsk (capital: Belarus).
Subsequently, two more international routes have been established — Ulaanbaatar – Sanya – Ulan-Ude (East Siberia, Russia) and Sanya – Kuala Lumpur.
The launch of these three international routes, all within four days, marks a strategic move by Sanya to expand its reach into Central Asian, European, and Southeast Asian markets.
To date, Sanya has launched 38 international flight routes, connecting the city to destinations such as Bangkok, Frankfurt, Seoul, and St. Petersburg, covering 29 overseas cities in total.
Cashing in on fifth freedom traffic rights, the flights link the Hainan Free Trade zone and port with Europe, while Sanya collaborates with top aviation influencers to create travel content. The launch campaign achieved viral success, garnering over 10 million impressions by August and trending worldwide on social media platforms. This is not the only example of drawing visitors with air routes.
Focusing on the “Sanya-Minsk” route, Sanya has participated in tourism promotional events and travel shows held in Minsk to showcase its tourism offerings to the Belarusian market, thereby enhancing Sanya’s global visibility.
Thanks to the strategy that drives route expansion through destination marketing, Sanya is fast emerging as a world-class tourist destination. According to official statistics, Sanya received over 700,000 international overnight visitors in the first three quarters of this year, setting a new historical record for the same period.
Sanya has developed customised marketing strategies for each flight region, targeting the domestic market. It has also collaborated with China’s leading e-commerce platform, Meituan, to launch tourism promotion campaigns, offering thousands of discounted travel packages and achieving more than 500 million online impressions.
For Hong Kong, China, tailor-made tourism products such as “1.5 Hours to Paradise” have been launched on the Klook platform, driving a year-on-year increase of 87.47% in the number of Hong Kong visitors during the first seven months.
For South Korea, travel agencies, media, and associations are invited to visit Sanya to pinpoint tourists’ preferences.
For Cambodia, an MoU was signed in early September in this Cambodia-China Tourism Year 2025 between the Sanya Tourism Board and the Cambodia Tourism Board, a move that will establish a long-term collaboration.”
Tourism momentum has directly fueled spending growth. In the first three quarters of 2025, overnight international visitors spent more than USD600 million in Sanya. In addition to the core advantages of duty-free shopping, details such as multilingual services and fusion cuisines also make visitors’ journeys smooth and pleasant.
At present, Sanya Phoenix International Airport is accelerating the third-phase expansion, due to be completed by year-end, to boost annual passenger capacity to 30 million.
According to an official of the Sanya Tourism Board, the city will introduce more diverse tourism products and experiences to accommodate the requirements of global visitors.
(Source: Sanya Tourism Board)
