12/09/2025

LYFE FRIDAY | SEPT 12, 2025

23

One-trip, multiple-stop itineraries o Hainan-Hong Kong cultural tourism integration upgrades travel experience in China W ITH its extensive global flight network, Hong Kong welcomes tens of millions of international

will showcase Hainan’s cultural and tourism features through diverse formats such as “imaging + intangible heritage + food + performances”. Over 80 finely curated photographs will display the authentic, dynamic and vibrant essence of Hainan, while nearly 200 exhibits will highlight world-class, national and provincial intangible cultural heritage items, including Li brocade, coconut carvings, Miao embroidery and bamboo weaving. More than 10 interactive activities and performances, such as martial arts demonstrations, folk singing and dancing, and artistic nail art, will emphasise the innovative reinterpretation of Hainan’s traditional culture. Furthermore, Hainan’s visa-free policy for citizens from 86 countries, 144-hour visa-free entry for foreign tour groups from Hong Kong and Macau, and 240-hour transit visa exemption provide favourable conditions and broad possibilities for future cooperation across various fields. “We are collaborating with major Hong Kong enterprises to develop global performances, art exhibitions, cultural tourism and broadcasting and film projects. Additionally, we are promoting exchanges in more than nine sports events, including martial arts, dragon boat racing and golf,” said Wang Yuechuan, director of the International and Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan Market Promotion Office of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports of Hainan Province.

tourists annually. Just across the strait, Hainan is also one of China’s most popular tourist destinations. The two regions share geographical proximity, cultural similarities and close business ties, creating a strong foundation and vast potential for collaboration. In recent years, tourism and cultural exchanges between Hainan and Hong Kong have flourished. A growing number of residents and tourists frequently travel between the two destinations, fostering mutual learning and cooperation in the tourism sector. In April, tourism associations from both sides signed a strategic agreement to jointly develop “one-trip, multiple-stops” itineraries, offering differentiated and complementary high-end tourism experiences that greatly enrich trips for international visitors. Leveraging Hong Kong’s role as a “super connector”, Hainan has increased flight frequency between Hong Kong and Haikou/Sanya, enabling seamless travel from the “Pearl of the Orient” to “Sunshine Hainan” and creating a “one-hour tourism circle” for global travellers. According to the latest data from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports of Hainan Province, from January to July, over 85,000 tourists entered Hainan from Hong Kong, a year-on-year increase of 28.8%. The upcoming promotion event

The Hainan Free Trade Port Tourism and Culture (Hong Kong) Series Promotion Events mark a new chapter of tropical island tourism in China for visitors from Hong Kong and beyond.

Blood Moon rises as Kenya looks to stars to boost tourism Under the Kenyan stars, tourists and tribal dancers looked up at the rust red “blood moon” as the east African country launched a new tourism initiative promoting its night skies.

Australia. “I think it’s awesome, I just did not expect any of this,” she said. Game-changer Kenya hopes to capitalise on star-struck tourists like Debbe. The country has some of the lowest light pollution levels in the world, according to the Bortle dark-sky scale – which measures night sky light – and an already thriving tourism industry which accounts for almost 10% of the country’s GDP. Astro-tourism could be a fresh reason for tourists to visit, believes Jacques Matara, the Kenya Space Agency’s deputy director of Space Research and Innovation. “We have that advantage of having some of the most beautiful and clear skies worldwide. Astro-tourism is our opportunity to create awareness about the utility of space for socio-economic development. This is something that could be game-changing, especially in our tourism sector.” As the “blood moon” shone down between the stars, Johanns Hertogh-van der Laan, a 75-year-old ex-teacher from Holland, certainly agreed. Having come to Kenya with his wife to see the wildlife, he said he had been blown away by the night skies. – AFP

When the Sun, Earth and Moon line up, the shadow cast by the planet on its satellite makes it appear an eerie, deep red colour that has astounded humans for millennia. The phenomenon was visible late Sunday across the planet with some of those in a remote lodge in Samburu county, hundreds of miles from capital Nairobi, where the Kenya’s tourism ministry and the Kenya Space Agency launched a drive to push “astro-tourism”. Foreign tourists mingled with local dancers – wearing fantastically colourful beads and draped cloths – as they took turns gazing through telescopes at the slowly reddening moon and the kaleidoscope of stars around it. “It’s an amazing experience. At first, I thought it was not happening because the moon was dark... but at 8.30pm, the magic happened,” Kenyan visitor Stella-Maris Miriti, 35, said. The tour operator had travelled up from Nairobi to see the “blood moon” away from the city’s lights. Waiting her turn at the telescope, was 26-year-old Maggie Debbe, visiting with her parents from

A full moon, also known as ‘Blood Moon’, seen in the night sky in Yangon during a lunar eclipse last Sunday. – AFPPIC