According to the Sanya Tourism Development Board, the number of Russian tourists visiting Sanya jumped 78.48% year on year to nearly 90,000 in the period from January to August 2010.

Since the beginning of this year Hainan Province in Sanya and Russia have been cooperating on tourism promotions to boost the tourism market. In April, Pegas-Tour, one of the biggest travel agencies in Russia, launched non-stop flights linking the Russian cities of Khabarovsk, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, and Kemerovo with Sanya.

The board said it expects that the Russian tourist market will increase further after October since the Russian travel agency is going to add three new direct flights to Sanya.