Deputy director of the Sanya Tourism Development Board, Tang Sixian, on the tropical destination's MICE future.

How important is MICE business to Sanya?
It is very important for our hotels and resorts, as MICE visitors like to take advantage of the luxury accommodation we have in Sanya.

We estimate that we hosted 3,000 business events groups this year and put this at approximately 300,000 individual MICE visitors, most of whom are Chinese businessmen or foreigners working in China. We will, of course, be looking to increase this number. The more visitors, the better.

How is STDB encouraging international MICE groups to Sanya?
STDB currently includes MICE as part of its tourism marketing and promotes through Hainan Island road and trade shows. Most of the luxury hotels and resorts have large meetings facilities and can meet the needs of business people.

In particular, world-class resorts like Ritz-Carlton, Hilton, Sheraton, Marriott, Mandarin Oriental, Banyan Tree, Kempinski, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and so on are ideal for tourism and MICE business alike, and provide more than 10,000 rooms for groups.

With so many new resort hotels planned in Sanya, what is STDB doing to build international MICE business for the future?
This year STDB invited around 40 tour managers from India to Sanya to learn more about the destination, they have shown keen interest in sending MICE groups here.

STDB also organised a roadshow for travel agents and hotel managers to India to promote their products. We will be focusing on Japan, Korea and again India n 2010, as well as Russia and the UK.

What sort of transport developments are taking place?
Sanya already has an international airport, which should undergo expansion in the next three to five years. A new fast railway is also under construction that will connect Sanya and Haikou Airports. This is on top of our already strong transport links across the island.

What else is new for Sanya?
Sanya currently has three beautiful bays with hotels and resorts for tourists: Yalong Bay, Dadonghai Bay and Sanya Bay, all with very good facilities. The Haitang Bay area is under development and will see more than 40 luxury resorts being built along the beach. These will include a Shangri-La, Mangroves, Conrad and other global brands.