Phoenix Island, Sanya (Photo/Shetuwang-500011445)

South China's tropical island province of Hainan targets tourism revenue growth of 15 percent and an increase of 10 percent in tourist numbers this year, an official said Sunday during the annual session of the provincial people's congress.

Aiming to become an international tourism and consumption center, Hainan will roll out a series of policies and guidelines for tourism development such as building theme parks and promoting night economy, said Sun Ying, director of the provincial department of tourism, culture, radio, television and sports.

Sun noted that Hainan will work to foster the development of large tourism and culture projects and provide more products to tourists from home and abroad.

More than 81 million domestic and overseas tourists visited Hainan in 2021, up 25.5 percent year on year. Hainan's total tourism revenue increased 58.6 percent over the previous year to about 138.4 billion yuan (about 21.8 billion U.S. dollars).

China aims to build Hainan into an international tourism and consumption center by 2025 and a globally influential tourism and consumption destination by 2035.

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn