Tourists crowd the Sanya International Duty Free Shopping Complex on January 15, 2023. Photo: Li Qiaoyi/GT

Hotel occupancy rates in Sanya, South China's Hainan Province have now reached 85 percent, and local hotels are more than 90 percent booked for the coming Spring Festival, according to an official on Monday, as the tropical resort quickly regains luster following the country's policy shift on pandemic response.

Since early December when the government announced news COVID-19 optimization measures, pent-up travel demand in China has been unleashed and the city's travel market is recovering, Liang Qicai, director of the industry supervision department at the Sanya Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports Bureau, told the Global Times on Monday.

Between Thursday and Monday, the city's hotel occupancy rate exceeded 85 percent. Sanya's 17 tourist attractions received more than 80,000 travelers each day. On Sunday alone, up to 100,000 people visited local attractions, according to Liang.

The numbers are expected to keep rising over the weeklong Spring Festival. Local hotels are more than 90 percent booked for the festival, Liang disclosed, citing data from online travel platform Ctrip. 

As the first cold front of the year sweeps across the mainland, Sanya, known for its warm and sunny climate, stands out as the ideal destination for mainland travelers. 

A tourist surnamed Tian from Northeast China's Jilin Province has brought her whole family of five to Sanya for the Spring Festival. During the past week, she went to the beach and relaxed at the resort hotel. She also went shopping at the duty-free malls three times.

"Sanya has a pleasant climate compared with cold northeast China. As a tourist city, Sanya is rapidly reviving, and the services at scenic spots and shopping malls are very good. We are happy," Tian told the Global Times.

At times, pent-up consumer passion has sparked surprising scenes.

On Sunday, the Sanya Public Security Bureau said in an announcement that a brawl took place at the Sanya International Duty Free Shopping Complex on Saturday, when a spat over queue jumping turned physical. Eleven people were sentenced to administrative detention for 15 days and fined.  

To ready the resort city for the peak holiday season, a broad-based regulatory toughening is targeting price irregularities, among other violations of laws and regulations in sectors such as seafood catering, shopping and photography, Liang said. 

Enhanced safety supervision also tops the local government's agenda, he said, citing an ongoing effort to beef up safety and inspections of beaches and swimming pools. Hotels are urged to add lifeguards.

A high-profile drowning accident has been a wake-up call for increased safety awareness.

On January 7, several people were drowned in the sea near Haitang district in Sanya, resulting in a tragedy that killed four members of a family who came from Lanzhou, Northwest China's Gansu Province.

Liang Qicai (left), director of the industry supervision department at the Sanya Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports Bureau, leads a sea area safety and protection inspection task force in Sanya on January 10, 2023. Photo: Courtesy of the bureau