Hainan: The evolution of paradise

The dust is just settling after the participants of the Boao Forum leave the tropical island of Hainan. Maybe a few have decided to stay behind to enjoy the pleasures of sun and sea after official business has concluded.

This island, at the southernmost tip of China, is like Land's End in the United Kingdom. In fact, a huge boulder on the beach in Sanya is marked Tianya Haijiao, or "the edge of the sky and sea". It is a common photo point for lovers declaring their eternal love.

Hainan is like a microcosm of both domestic and international tourism development in China. It used to be a cheap port stop for bargain-seeking Russians on vacation.

Many of the restaurants and shops still bear Russian signage. With development of other seaside enclaves like Begonia Bay, tourism on the island has gone up several notches.

In this former farming community by the bay, a kaleidoscope of international six-star hotels and resorts has cropped up in the last few years. It's like a luxurious Who's Who in hospitality.

Rooms at these resorts are famously expensive during peak vacation periods such as the Spring Festival and National Day holidays as well as in summer. Prices can skyrocket to the exorbitant level of several thousand yuan per room night.

Some of the hotels are also responding to the changing trends of holidaymaking. Whereas Chinese tourists used to travel in hordes now the more affluent choose to travel on their own, often as a family. One resort in Begonia Bay actually exploits this demand by catering especially to families with children.

The Shangri-La Resort has a full-size water park outdoors complete with water slides and wave pool for the children. Indoors, an adventure land with giant teddy bears and a resident gibbon mascot keep the younger ones happy. Special family rooms cater for parents and children, and can even stretch to accommodate three generations.

Next-door hotels such as the Conrad and Luxury Collection cater to those who want to be pampered with fine dining, wining and rooms. Of course, these hotel clients are treasured visitors.

There is another group of occasional migrants, who are not so happily received. These are elderly retirees, mainly from the frozen northeast who flock to Hainan each winter to warm their bones. Many of them have bought or rented small apartments in Sanya or Haikou. Locals complain that this particular demographic does nothing to improve Hainan's economy. As one cynical cabdriver describes it: "They hardly spend any money and they often survive on a minimum income."

This is in contrast to the vast crowds of bargain hunters who line up at the huge duty free shopping mall in Sanya waiting to pick up imported cosmetics and designer handbags.

Hainan island is also gaining importance as a major military base. Soon it will also become the Cape Canaveral of China. For its residents the changes in the last two decades have been phenomenal and they have had to struggle to strike a balance between rampant profit-taking and earning an honest living - a common dilemma in a sudden economic boom.

Contact the writer at paulined@chinadaily.com.cn