From 20-22 November, the three-day 2018 Hainan International Tourism Island Leisure Sports Conference (referred to as the “HNLSC”) was successfully held at Hainan International Convention and Exhibition Center in Haikou City, China.
The conference was jointly hosted by Hainan Provincial Department of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports, Hainan Provincial Department of Commerce and Haikou Municipal People’s Government. Nearly one thousand people attended the conference, including Mr. Weiyong Peng, deputy director of the Economic Department of the State General Sports Administration, Mr. Yuanxin Cao, deputy director of the Hainan Provincial Department of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports, Mr. Lei Yao, deputy director of the Hainan Provincial Department of Commerce, Mr. Qinghua Ren, deputy mayor of the Haikou Municipal People’s Government, and Mr. Dazhong Zhang, founder and CEO of Ali Sports, Mr. Guorui Ge, PGA Tour Vice President China Managing Director, Mr. Gang Zeng, Vice President of PP Sports, Mr. Ruihang Wang, Belt and Road Chairman and IBF China Chairman, Ms Qi Zhou, General Manager of Activation Sports, Mr. Kasemsit Pathomsak, member of the ICC Executive Board and WCGC Chairman Mr. Jose Guerra, and other authorities of the State General Sports Administration, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the sports bureaus of different provinces and cities across the country and specially invited representatives from home and abroad.
Deputy Mayor of Haikou Municipal People’s Government Mr. Qinghua Ren said, “Sports is the leading resource for tourism development, and tourism is an important driving force for the development of sports industry. Haikou will take this conference as an opportunity to improve the spirit of sports and disseminate sports culture, promote sports consumption, actively plan to boost the integrated development of the sports industry, foster new growth points and meet the consumption needs of the people in multi-level and diversified sports leisure and leisure tourism.”
As the only tropical island province in the country, Hainan Island enjoys a complete set of marine, land, mountain, river and lake. It has the resources to develop the natural resources of the sports tourism industry, which is suitable for various forms of leisure sports with enormous opportunities for developing sports tourism industry. Guided by excellent events such as the Hainan Island International Regatta, the Hainan Island International Road Cycling Tournament and the Hainan Golf Open, Hainan Province has initially formed a relatively comprehensive sports tourism industry pattern of water sports leisure projects like diving, sea fishing, yachting, surfing, sailing, windsurfing and water entertainment, of beach sports and leisure projects such as beach volleyball and beach football, as well as golf, outdoor recreation, rafting, adventure, camping, fitness and leisure, sports competition performance, sports lottery sales, sporting goods sales and professional sports.
In 2018, the central government issued a series of major policy documents such as “Guiding Opinions on Supporting Hainan’s Comprehensive Deepening of Reform and Opening-up” and “Several Opinions on Promoting the Construction and Development of Hainan International Tourism Island”, which provided a rare opportunity for Hainan to accelerate the leap-forward development of the sports tourism industry. The 2018 1st Hainan International Tourism Island Leisure Sports Conference was held in this background. The 2018 “HNLSC” is the first international and professional achievements exhibition and exchange conference of leisure sports industry held in Hainan Province. With the development positioning of globalization, specialization and marketization, the conference is dedicated to building a “new landmark” for leisure sports in the world, a “new business card” in the field of leisure sports in China, and a “new engine” for the leisure sports industry in Hainan.
The theme of the first edition HNLSC is to “explore a new path of integrative development and create a new benchmark for sports tourism“. The conference centered on the “One Belt, One Road” national development strategy and the positioning of free trade zone (port) construction, and invited domestic and international corporate executives, political authorities and high-level business people to attend the event to discuss such topics as “building a new pattern of Hainan leisure sports with an international vision” and “exploiting the potential of leisure sports, to cultivate the new engine of the sports industry” and so on. At the conference, the distinguished guests provided valuable suggestions on the specific issues of digital driving Hainan sports tourism development, promoting international tourism islands to internationalized level, sports and leisure towns construction, and leisure sports potential exploitation.
In addition, the conference set up five major exhibition sections for leisure sports events, sports tourism, sports training, sports and recreation, and national fitness. At the same time, the conference also cooperated with the WCGC China Organizing Committee to hold golf events “Hainan International Tourism Island WCGC International Golf Invitational Tournament”.
