By Douglas Williams
Updated: 2007-10-17 09:43

China's tropical island paradise Hainan Province is developing into an luxury, international resort destination, especially along the white sands of Yalong Bay.

If the people who own and build five-star hotels and airports are gamblers, they must be some of the best. Assuming they probably are, it's odds on that Hainan Province, the Sanya area in particular, is destined for big things.

China's tropical paradise island only started appearing on the tourist radar two or three years ago. Already most of the big five-star guns are lined up along the long white beach of Yalong Bay. Work is continuing apace as the airport rapidly expands to become a transport hub and two more luxury hotel complexes will open soon. Visitor numbers increase each year and new flight connections are being established all the time. One now even links Manchester, England, with Sanya directly. Good for Manchester, perhaps less so for Sanya.

Hainan is now rapidly becoming an exotic escape, a direct competitor to Thailand's Phuket and Indonesia's Bali.

Yalong Bay is an oasis of rarefied and manicured tranquility a safe 50-yuan (US$6.66) taxi away from the more ramshackle delights of Sanya itself. The area is also a bit weird, a sort of exotic "Truman Show" that could be practically anywhere in the world between the Tropics and by the sea. Elongated golf buggies shuttle back and forth carrying people wearing shorts with belt and pleats while little people in cute headgear tidy and tend.

For those seeking a cushioning from the real world for a while, and lets face it who doesn't every now and then, the Hilton Sanya Resort and Spa comfortably fits the bill. This is an oasis albeit with 500 rooms, three restaurants, a couple of bars, a number of pools and a long beach. Playing poolside most nights is the music of Oasis, that once great band from Manchester, just in case anybody hadn't quite got the idea. It's sort of spooky.

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