NEWS ROUND-UP Hainan ‘eyeing further reforms’ as tourism surges


Inbound tourism to China’s Hainan province increased by 50% to 1.1m in 2017 as the island looks to further relax restrictions on duty free sales, reports the state-run Hainan Provincial Tourism Development Commission. Growth of +21% in total tourism revenue


to RMB81.19bn ($12.8bn) outpaced growth in total tourist numbers (+12%) to reach


67.5m year-on-year, reveals the provincial tourism development commission’s official Sunshine Hainan Network and Visit Hainan portal. Meanwhile, foreign exchange income


rose by a remarkable 95% year-on-year to total $681m dollars. Addressing attendees at a conference


last month, Hainan Tourism Commission Director Sun Ying revealed Hainan has targeted 74m tourists this year, including 1.33m inbound tourists (+22.6%). Aside investment, reform and developing


Global tourism to ME and Africa up 11.2% in 2017


International air travel to the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region saw ‘double-digit’ growth last year and will continue to soar this quarter, reports ForwardKeys. ForwardKeys reveals international airline


bookings to MEA grew by +10.5% in 2017 with bookings currently +11.2% ahead of where they were this time last year [correct as of 31 January]. The region saw the biggest increase in international visitors from Asia Pacific, which was up 19%, followed by the Americas (+14.1%) and Europe (+11.6%), compared to 2016. ForwardKeys attributes this double-


digit growth to three factors: the recovery from terror attacks that hit North Africa in 2015, a wave of changes to visa regulations in the region designed to attract more international visitors, and strong tourism from markets such as China. ForwardKeys’ CEO Olivier Jager said:


“For travel to the Middle East and Africa, both the past year and the outlook for the coming quarter can be summed up in just three words: ‘Double-Digit Growth’.”


the inbound tourism market, Hainan will reportedly focus on six tasks in 2018, including plans to promote further relaxations on restrictions of duty free sales, increase the current duty free ceiling, and unify duty free shopping policies for island tourists. If the Commission’s aims materialise, this would represent a huge boost for the duty free business in Hainan and its two competing operations in Haikou and Sanya, the latter operated by


China Duty Free Group. Seperately, China mainland’s official state-run Xinhua News Agency (xinhuanet) reported that Hainan’s provincial finance bureau last month confirmed sales for offshore duty free shops totalling approximately RMB30.59bn ($4.7bn) for the province’s duty free programme since its launch in 2011.


BNE enables digital currency payments


Passengers travelling through Brisbane Airport (BNE) will soon be able to use cryptocurrency to dine and shop at the terminal, confirms the airport. BNE has partnered with local startup


TravelbyBit to allow travellers to use cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Dash and Ethereum to pay for goods and services at the airport’s stores and F&B outlets. The airport says it is working with a


number of terminal retailers to bring ‘decentralised block chain enabled payments into its terminal shopping’ to enable travelling customers to use TravelbyBit’s


cryptocurrency


payment system. Retailers and F&B outlets preparing to


accept digital currency at BNE include Botanist, Spoon, Windmill & Co, Forte Espresso, as well as nine AWPL stores including Australian Way, Merino


Collection, Carry On, Dreamtime Journey and multiple News Travels across both terminals. Brisbane Airport Corporation’s


General Manager Strategic Planning and Development, Roel Hellemons, stated: “Many people around the world have made money investing in cryptocurrencies and a lot of these people travel internationally, so it makes sense to offer a digital currency experience within our terminals.”


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