BERLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Recently, at the 60th ITB Berlin and Hainan (Berlin) Tourism and Culture Promotion Exchange, Sanya City, alongside local core enterprises represented by Sanya Phoenix International Airport, signed a series of Memoranda of Understanding with Kazakhstan’s SCAT Airlines, Latvia’s Riga Airport, Uzbekistan’s Air Samarkand, and Central and Eastern Europe’s leading online travel platform Easy Booking. These agreements aim to both activate the potential of Central Asian source markets and accelerate the development of an aviation tourism cooperation network connecting China with the Eurasian hinterland.
Leveraging the comprehensive opening-up dividends of Hainan Free Trade Port and historic breakthroughs in aviation rights liberalisation, Sanya, China’s sole tropical coastal tourism city, is emerging as a new favourite destination for outbound travellers from Central Asian nations, including Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
In recent years, the Central Asian outbound tourism market has experienced rapid growth, with particularly strong demand for tropical coastal resorts and wellness destinations. Leveraging its year-round winter-free climate, world-class coastal tourism resources, and the duty-free shopping advantages of the Hainan Free Trade Port, Sanya has swiftly ascended to the top tier of preferred outbound destinations for Central Asian travellers. It is now regarded as the “benchmark for tropical holidays in China” by visitors from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and neighbouring nations. The ongoing efforts by Sanya’s tourism authorities to expand air rights and international flight networks have become pivotal in unlocking Central Asia’s tourism potential. Benefiting from Hainan Free Trade Port’s pilot policy for air rights liberalisation, Sanya continues to attract significant attention and cooperation from internationally renowned airlines, establishing efficient and convenient air links for Central Asian travellers to China.
From Policy Breakthrough to Route Network: Substantive Implementation of ‘Seventh Air Freedom’
In 2025, the Sanya-Prague route operated by SCAT Airlines commenced regular passenger services, marking China’s inaugural scheduled passenger route exercising ‘Seventh Air Freedom’. This entitlement permits foreign carriers to operate passenger flights between China and third countries without landing in their home territory, regarded by the industry as a landmark case in China’s aviation liberalisation process.
During this year’s ITB, Sanya further expanded this achievement through a four-party memorandum of cooperation signed by the Sanya Tourism Board, Sanya Phoenix International Airport Co., Ltd., SCAT Airlines, and Riga International Airport. This initiative aims to advance route collaboration between Sanya and Riga. Moving beyond single-point breakthroughs, Sanya is extending its route advantages into a networked system covering the Baltic and Central and Eastern European regions, signalling its attempt to establish a radiating passenger source structure.
As remarked by Laila Odina, CEO of Riga Airport: “Sanya’s appeal lies not only in its climate and beaches, but also in its potential as a new gateway to the Chinese market.”
From “Getting There” to “Staying There”: Synchronised Channel and Product Development
Whereas route development addresses “how to arrive,” channel partnerships concern “how to convert.” Historically, Chinese destinations have faced challenges of “insufficient product awareness” in European markets. Partnering with regional platforms can effectively shorten market education cycles. On 2 March local time, during the Hainan (Berlin) Tourism and Culture Promotion Exchange hosted by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports of Hainan Province, Sanya-based enterprise Hainan Selfie International Travel Agency signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Central and Eastern European online travel platform Easy Booking. This initiative will leverage Easy Booking’s deep local expertise in Central and Eastern Europe to precisely target Sanya’s diverse leisure, resort, and wellness tourism offerings towards high-value clientele within the region, achieving comprehensive reach from flight routes to distribution channels.
Expanding into Central Asia: Market Depth Strategy
Beyond Central and Eastern Europe, Sanya is also extending its reach into Central Asia. Through a Memorandum of Understanding with Air Samarkand, both parties will collaborate on route optimisation, co-creation of products, and joint promotion. The Central Asian market has seen significant growth in recent years, yet direct flight connections to coastal destinations in southern China remain relatively limited. This move by Sanya can also be seen as a forward-looking strategy for a promising market.
“Berlin ITB marks a pivotal starting point for deepening our international cooperation. Leveraging the policy dividends of the ‘Seventh Air Freedom,’ we are transforming from a single tourism destination into an aviation and tourism hub connecting China with Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia,” a representative from the Sanya Tourism Board stated, “Through our integrated global marketing system combining ‘routes, products and platforms’, we are committed to ensuring global travellers can truly achieve ‘arrive easily, stay comfortably, enjoy thoroughly and wish to return’ in Sanya.”
From Resort City to Aviation Tourism Hub
The series of agreements signed during this year’s ITB reveals Sanya’s evolving international market strategy: leveraging ‘Seventh Air Freedom’ as a policy fulcrum, targeting Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia as growth markets, utilising airlines and airports as traffic gateways, and employing online platforms as conversion channels.
Against the backdrop of intensifying competition in Asia’s tourism landscape, Sanya’s approach demonstrates a more systematic international mindset. As stated by Alexandr Bogenkov, Marketing Director of Easy Booking: “When a destination simultaneously develops air rights, routes, channels and events, it transcends being merely a coastal resort city to become a pivotal node within the regional tourism framework.”
About Sanya
Sanya is China’s only tropical coastal tourist city. The Sanya Tourism Board is dedicated to promoting Sanya as a globally influential tourist destination and propelling it towards becoming a world-class tourism city. Sanya will host the 6th Asian Beach Games in 2026, providing a significant platform to enhance the city’s international standing.
Contacts
Paul Wang
[email protected]
