Sanya: top car rental venue for self-driving tours

The tropical city of Sanya in South China's Hainan province was a top destination during the Spring Festival for tourists seeking to enjoy a road trip through beautiful scenery.

According to data released by China's largest online travel agency Ctrip, Hainan's cities of Sanya and Haikou become the top two places in China for car renters in 2020, as a result of the boom in short-distance travel, which was encouraged by the Chinese government to curb the possible spread of COVID-19.

The top 10 cities for car-renting during the Spring Festival were Sanya and Haikou in Hainan province, Chengdu in Sichuan province, Shanghai, Kunming in Yunnan province, Chongqing, Xi'an in Shaanxi province, Beijing, Dali in Yunnan and Guangzhou in Guangdong province.

The Ctrip data also revealed that car rental orders in Jinan, Sanya, Shanghai, and Nanchang all increased by more than 100 percent. In popular tourism cities like Sanya, Haikou, Kunming, Zhengzhou, Chengdu and Qingdao, holidaymakers rented a car for more than six days.

Local scenic spots in Sanya were also highly popular among people during the Spring Festival holiday. In addition to natural scenery and historical sites, zoos and botanical gardens, theme parks, aquariums, and exhibition halls also saw large numbers of visitors.

Affected by the return of international travel, the hotel industry in China saw substantial growth. During the Spring Festival, four- and five-star hotels accounted for about 60 percent of total hotel orders. Atlantis Sanya was shortlisted as one of the Top 10 most popular hotels in China during the Spring Festival.

A photo of Atlantis Sanya, which lies on the shore of the South China Sea. [Photo/WeChat account sanyareleased]

A tourist enjoys a moment at Wuzhizhou Island in Sanya on Feb 13. [Photo/WeChat account sanyareleased]

Children play amid flowers in Sanya during the Spring Festival. [Photo/WeChat account sanyareleased]