China opens Hainan Province to foreign yachts

Beginning next week, eight coastal waters off South China’s Hainan Province will be open for temporary entry and exit by foreign yachts through January of 2020.

Hainan is the first to implement the temporary waters opening, as China hopes ultimately to build the island province into a globally influential tourism and consumption destination by 2035, with plans to ease restrictions on its offshore duty-free policy and develop cross-border cruise tourism, according to XinhuaNet.com.

The government also required the provincial port office to urge related departments to ensure yachts strictly comply with the laws and regulations on temporarily entering and leaving the waters.

China - like other Asian, Mediterranean and coastal areas worldwide - is targeting yacht destination tourism as an area of growth. Unlike those other markets, China does not have a large, local yacht market, as the communist government of Xi Jinping discourages ostentatious displays of wealth.

Owning a large yacht there can be difficult, given a lack of shipyards, suppliers, and dockage, restrictions on the number of passengers, and a 44% import duty and 36.5% domestic sales tax.