New Hainan Free Trade Port's innovation cases unveiled

A new batch of six Hainan Free Trade Port institutional integration innovation cases were unveiled at a press conference held on Saturday morning.

The new model of integrated management service of the yacht industry is a typical case among them. The case focuses on the chain, digitization and intensive development of the yacht industry of Sanya, which is the first city in the country to carry out local legislation on water tourism.

By linking transportation, maritime, customs, border inspection and other departments, Sanya takes the lead in issuing local regulations to promote the development of yacht tourism, the classification of the types of sea used for yacht tourism and transaction service standards, establishing the first digital service platform for yacht tourism, and integrating maritime approval services and other facilitation measures, said Yin Chengling, vice-mayor of Sanya Municipal People's Government at the press conference.

The size of Sanya's new blue economy reached a new height, according to Yin. In 2023, the total number of registered yachts in the resort city reached 1,367, with 230 being newly registered annually, making it a member of the city club with more than 1000 yachts and ranking top in China. Sanya yachts set sail 161,100 times and receive 1.08 million tourists, with an increase of 67.22 percent and 82.84 percent respectively, surpassing the record high. The number of passengers of the pilot operation of the night cruise charter yacht has exceeded 3,780.

Hainan has also achieved remarkable results in constructing a complete chain of recreational fishery development systems in the country. The case proposed the definition and format of recreational fisheries, integrating sessions such as management of fishing permits, inspection of recreational fishing vessels and safety management. The first recreational fishing boat in the province, for example, which completed approval, construction and inspection, was launched on July 8, 2023.

The gross value of the province's recreational fishery in 2023 was more than 400 million yuan ($56 million), the number of receptions was close to 14 million, which increased 90 percent and 73 percent respectively on a year-on-year basis, according to the statistics released by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of Hainan province on Saturday.

Over the last five years, Hainan has rolled out 140 institutional innovation cases, ten of which have been replicated and promoted nationwide by the State Council, China's Cabinet, laying a solid institutional foundation for constructing a high-quality free trade port with Chinese characteristics.