Haikou expects stronger economic growth this year

China's economy is set to rebound this year, and Haikou, the core area of Hainan free trade port, is speeding up its economic development, according to Ding Hui, mayor of Haikou and a deputy to the National People's Congress.

This year, China's GDP growth target is set at around 5 percent, which "fully reflects the strong resilience of China's economic development and gives us great confidence", he said.

The 2023 government work report noted that steady progress has been made in building Hainan into a free trade port. This is the fifth consecutive year that the Hainan FTP has been mentioned in the annual report.

Hainan set its GDP growth target this year at around 9.5 percent, ranking first among all provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.

"Hainan's economy and society are expected to be on a fast track of high-quality development in 2023. Haikou, will take the initiative and strive to achieve an annual GDP growth of 10 percent this year," Ding said.

Haikou's economic aggregate accounts for one-third of the provincial total, and its population accounts for 30 percent of the provincial count.

Over the past five years, Haikou has added 1.35 million new market entities, and the scale of market entities has increased by a factor of 5.1. Total imports and exports of goods increased from 33 billion yuan ($4.74 billion) to 60.56 billion yuan, with an average annual increase of 23.7 percent. The actual use of foreign capital increased from $250 million to $2.5 billion, with an average annual increase of 133.3 percent, according to the city.

This year's government work report stressed restoring and expanding consumption. Haikou is accelerating the establishment of an international tourism consumption center, Ding said, by improving the quality of consumption scenarios and holding a series of consumption activities.

Haikou's tourism and culture market witnessed a rapid recovery in the first quarter. During the seven-day Spring Festival holiday, the city received more than 1.22 million tourists, a year-on-year increase of 26.2 percent. Its tourism revenue reached nearly 1.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 22.1 percent.

Last week 90,000 tickets for three upcoming concerts in Haikou were snapped up within 10 seconds. Nearly 40 percent of the ticket buyers came from outside the province.

With a travel boom, Haikou has quickly released the consumption potential of duty-free shopping, Ding said. The retail sales of duty-free stores in Haikou last year were 19.02 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 30.8 percent. Retail sales of duty-free stores in the first quarter are expected to reach 8.34 billion yuan, an increase of 80 percent year-on-year.

To meet the goals of "cultivating and strengthening strategic emerging industries" and "accelerating the construction of a modern industrial system" in the government work report, Haikou aims to build its key industrial parks bigger and better.

"Industrial parks are important platforms for building economic growth and promoting industrial optimization and upgrading," Ding said.

Among the 11 key industrial parks in the Hainan FTP, Haikou has four — Jiangdong New Area, National High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, Comprehensive Bonded Zone and Fullsing Internet Industrial Park, taking up 46.9 percent of investment and 41.3 percent of tax revenue to the city, with less than 10 percent of the land.

Each park has its own focus, with industries including finance, modern services, medicine, medical equipment, manufacturing and digital intelligence.

"Haikou will utilize these parks' resources, first-class business environment and efficient gathering of productive factors to carry out investment promotions targeting RCEP and ASEAN countries," Ding said.

To advance high-level opening-up, Haikou will utilize the superimposed advantages of RCEP and FTP policies, proactively align with CPTPP, DEPA and other international high-standard economic and trade rules, deepen economic and trade cooperation with Southeast Asia and contribute to Hainan's effort to build a headquarters for Chinese enterprises to enter Southeast Asia and a headquarters for Southeast Asian enterprises to enter the Chinese market, Ding said.

Haikou is concentrating on building an international aviation hub serving the Pacific and the Indian Oceans. It also has three ports — Xiuying Port, South Port and Xinhai Port — which connect Hainan with the rest of the country. The passenger and cargo routes from Haikou to airport hubs in ASEAN and RCEP member states "are gradually resuming and promote economic and trade exchanges", Ding said.

The China International Consumer Products Expo, one of the four major exhibitions in China, is held in Haikou.

"We'll make full use of this international exchange platform to promote the city and its industries, organize economic and trade talks and business inspections and hope to turn exhibitors into investors," Ding said.