SANYA, China ¨C Millions of domestic tourists are descending on China¡¯s southernmost island province of Hainan, presenting a surreal contrast with grim hospital scenes, shuttered restaurants and stifling home quarantine elsewhere in a virus-ravaged world.
Known at home as the ¡°Hawaii of China,¡± the island, about the size of Taiwan, has been free of the coronavirus for six months, drawing eager shoppers to duty-free malls, couples seeking a subtropical backdrop for wedding pictures and surfers just looking to ¡°breathe freely.¡±
October arrivals of 9.6 million, according to official data, exceeded the year-earlier figure, before the pandemic struck, by 3.1%, although foreign visitors slumped 87%. That was a far cry from February, when arrivals had dropped almost 90%.
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