"Sanya ⇌ Moscow" International Route Launched

At 07:27 on December 28, a Russian national airline passenger plane carrying 264 passengers smoothly arrived at Sanya Phoenix International Airport (hereinafter referred to as Sanya Airport), marking the official opening of the first Russian Federation route in Hainan Province.



The "Sanya ⇌ Moscow" international route is operated by the A330-300 aircraft type, with two flights per week on Wednesdays and Sundays. The inbound flight number is SU224, which takes off from Moscow at 17:20 and arrives in Sanya at 03:10 the next day; the outbound flight number is SU225, which departs from Sanya at 04:50 and arrives in Moscow at 15:55 (all times are Beijing time, subject to the airline's announcement).



Russia is a key source market for inbound tourism to Sanya. Data from the Sanya Tourism Development Bureau's big data platform shows that from 2012 to 2019, Russia consistently ranked among the top three source markets for inbound tourists to Sanya. In 2019, Sanya received more than 300,000 Russian tourists. With the resumption of inbound routes this year, Sanya received 40,500 overnight inbound tourists in November 2023, recovering to 44% of the level in the same period of 2019, an increase of 22 percentage points compared to the first half of the year. From January to November 2023, Sanya cumulatively received 229,900 overnight inbound tourists, a year-on-year increase of 132% compared to 2022.



Due to the need to escape the cold, the winter and spring seasons are peak seasons for Russian tourists to travel to Sanya. A responsible person from the Sanya Tourism Development Bureau stated: "Approaching the New Year holiday, Sanya will hold large-scale events with distinctive features such as the Strawberry Music Festival and drone performances during this period, enriching the holiday experience of domestic and foreign tourists in Sanya, ensuring everyone can enjoy themselves in Sanya and not have a wasted trip."



Since March 15, Hainan has resumed policies such as visa exemption for nationals of 59 countries, providing great convenience for Russian tourists to visit Sanya. Russian tourists can enter Hainan Sanya without a visa and stay for up to 30 days. In addition to its unique tropical coastal natural resources, Sanya also has diversified emerging tourism formats, such as surfing, paddleboarding, low-altitude flying, skydiving, and other sports tourism products that are very popular with young Russian tourists. Furthermore, health tourism is also a major factor for many Russian groups choosing to travel to Sanya.



With the opening of the "Sanya ⇌ Moscow" route, Sanya Airport has cumulatively launched 14 international and regional routes in 2023. The work of launching and resuming international and regional routes for the year has been successfully "wrapped up," helping to further enhance Sanya's internationalization level. This is of great significance for building and improving Sanya's international route network and promoting the construction of Sanya Airport as an international aviation gateway.