May Day Holiday Maybe Road Tripping

During this year's May Day holiday, the Hainan Costal Scenic Highway is full of out-of-town travelers coming to enjoy the island's laid-back vibe.

With the crystal clear seawater on one side and lush green plants on their other, cars with number plates from Zhanjiang City (200km away) in Guangdong Province, southern China and Nanjing City (1,900km away) in Jiangsu Province, Southeastern China, are sharing the 988km long Hainan Coastal Scenic Highway with drivers from as far away as Hohhot City (2,800km) in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, northern China and Shihezi City (4,400km) in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, northwestern China, on a journey through the island's 12 coastal cities and counties. Featuring wetlands, river deltas, coconut groves, and green paddies, social media posts of their road trips are akin to promotional videos of tropical paradise and an obvious reason why this is increasingly a popular way of exploring the southern Chinese province.

Alongside the boom in road trippers driving down, the local hospitality industry and short-term car rental business are also up. Data released by a leading domestic travel technology conglomerate shows that, although multi-day reservations for cars and RVs has remained the same y-o-y since May Day 2024, hotel reservations have seen a 39% surge.

Some visitors from particularly far away regions (such as the aforementioned Xinjiang) have said that they flew in, rented a car shortly after the landing, and plan to circumnavigate the island before returning it in Sanya, and flying back home.

According to the data from the aforementioned travel technology conglomerate, Wuzhizhou, Xidao, and Oceanflower islands, the Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone and Red Canyon Culture Tourist Area are their platform’s most researched destinations in Hainan.

(By Marian Rosenberg)