MICE buyers gather in Sanya amid Hainan's tourism boom

The 2026 Hainan MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) Tourism Promotion Event made its way to Sanya recently. The event brought together 120 top buyers from national industry associations, leading MICE organizations, and corporate clients.

Through procurement discussions, special presentations and site visits, the attendees explored Hainan's MICE tourism resources and looked for opportunities to host various meetings, exhibitions and events in the province.

The four event from Sept 14 to 17 brought these high-profile buyers to Haikou, Wenchang, Qionghai, Wanning and Sanya to evaluate MICE resources.

This initiative effectively connected national MICE organizers with Hainan's local industry, giving a fresh boost to the province's MICE tourism sector.

This promotional event has been held consecutively for six years, attracting 839 buyers in total and facilitating 554 MICE events. It has hosted 177,400 participants, leading to hospitality demands of 282,000 hotel room-nights, with hotel-related spending alone reaching 467 million yuan ($69.7 million). This success highlights the effective blend of exhibitions and tourism.

In recent years, Sanya's MICE tourism industry has thrived, benefiting from the advantages of Hainan Free Trade Port and supportive MICE policies. The city regularly hosts business groups from sectors like technology, beauty, healthcare and finance. Autumn and early spring are peak times for MICE activities, with custom packages combining island views and yacht experiences proving especially popular.

Sanya is also enhancing its conference hosting and outdoor activity safety standards, expanding into international MICE and small-scale exchange markets and boosting its one-stop conference services. The goal is to position Sanya as a distinctive, high-end tropical coastal MICE destination targeting Southeast Asia.

Ms Yang, a representative from Hangzhou with extensive experience in the MICE tourism industry, noted that she has organized numerous events in Hainan, ranging from hundreds to thousands of attendees.

She believes that Hainan's MICE offerings extend beyond just sun and sand, with diverse new options that cater to the needs of academic forums, corporate team-building and industry conferences.