Covid-19 lockdown returns: 80,000 visitors stranded at tourist hotspot, many stuck inside hotels

Chinese tourist hotspot Sanya, a coastal resort city in the Hainan province, has launched all-out efforts to contain its latest Covid-19 outbreak which has left tens of thousands of tourists stuck on the island.

People chose the tropical southern island of Hainan because of its nigh-perfect Covid-19 track record.

The island in the South China Sea saw just two positive symptomatic Covid-19 cases in 2021. The number of infections, however, has suddenly soared, prompting a lockdown in the city of Sanya. 

Sanya imposed a lockdown on Saturday (August 6, 2022) and restricted transport links to try to stem the outbreak, even as around 80,000 tourists were enjoying its beaches at peak season.

Many are now stuck inside hotels until next Saturday, if not longer.

Sanya authorities have said that stranded tourists can leave the island starting next Saturday, provided they have done five Covid-19 tests and obtained negative results for all of them.

Sanya's government has announced that tourists who have had their flights cancelled would be able to book hotel rooms at half price.

A foreign tourist who lives in China and was on honeymoon in Sanya said that additional issues for stranded tourists included massive price hikes in food delivery fees, meal prices at hotels, as well as flight tickets out of Hainan.

Sanya recorded 689 symptomatic and 282 asymptomatic cases of Covid-19 between August 1 and August 7. Other cities around Hainan province, including Danzhou, Dongfang, Lingshui, and Lingao, have all reported over a dozen coronavirus cases in the same period.

The outbreak in Hainan is the latest challenge to China's zero-Covid policy, after the chaotic lockdown in Shanghai dented Beijing's narrative that its handling of the pandemic was superior to other countries like the United States, which has recorded over a million coronavirus deaths.

Hainan, notably, was closed to overseas tourists for the past two and half years since China, in response to the pandemic, stopped issuing tourist visas and implemented strict quarantine rules.

Domestic visitors have reportedly kept the tourism industry on Hainan alive through much of the Covid-19 pandemic, but this sudden lockdown risks turning some tourists away for good.