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Westerdam debuts in Sanya following new visa-free tourist policy

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Westerdam stayed in Sanya for ten hours
Holland America Line's Westerdam became the first international cruise ship to call at Sanya since the city released a visa-free policy to visitors from 59 countries earlier this year.

Westerdam arrived at the port, located on the southern end of China’s Hainan Island, from Hong Kong and stayed in Sanya for ten hours before sailing onto Vietnam.

Visa-free visits for tourists from 59 countries

In May 2018, The Ministry of Public Security of China and the State Immigration Administration jointly announced that citizens of 59 countries could enjoy a 30-day visa-free access to Hainan Island.

Group or individual tourists from the 59 countries can visit Hainan for 30 days if they booked their trips via local and authority-approved travel agencies in Hainan.

Release of the new policy is expected to attract more ports call by international cruise ships.

The 59 countries includes: United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, UK, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia (FYROM), Albania, Belarus, Monaco, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Building more cruise berths

Sanya offers one cruise berth for ships up to 80,000gt opened in 2006, plus two for ships of 150,000gt at Phoenix island and in operation since 2016.

The city is constructing two more berths for ships up to 225,000gt to further improve its capacity.