Haikou Delegation Visits Canada to Explore New Cooperation Opportunities, Accelerating the Development of a “Fashionable and Vibrant Consumption City”

Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – May 2, 2026) – A tourism, culture and sports promotion symposium themed “Hi Cool Haikou, HK” was held in Vancouver on the afternoon of April 28. The event was attended by a Haikou delegation led by Lü Xiaolei, Vice Mayor of the Haikou Municipal People’s Government. Wang Ke, Director of the Haikou Bureau of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports, as well as representatives from Mission Hills Group and Hainan Airlines, accompanied the delegation. Participants also included representatives from the Canada-China International Exchange Association, local travel agencies, and cultural institutions.

The symposium marked an important step in Haikou’s efforts to expand into the North American inbound tourism market. By showcasing the city’s comprehensive strengths and policy advantages as a core area of the Hainan Free Trade Port, the event facilitated connections with major Canadian travel operators and sports institutions. It aims to enhance visitor sourcing, promote integrated tourism products and experiences, and improve Haikou’s international brand visibility and conversion efficiency-ultimately creating a closed-loop model from “going global” promotion to “bringing in” consumption.

Showcasing Openness and Coastal Appeal

The event opened with a promotional video highlighting Haikou’s tropical coastal charm. In her keynote speech, Lü Xiaolei noted that the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port is accelerating, with visa-free entry now available to travelers from 86 countries, including Canada, for purposes such as tourism, business, exhibitions, and sports events.

As the core leading area of the Free Trade Port, Haikou boasts well-developed sports facilities, a convenient duty-free shopping system, and a wide array of cultural and tourism offerings. The city is well-equipped to host international visitors and professional teams. Lü expressed Haikou’s willingness to deepen practical cooperation with Canada and North America in sports tourism, event collaboration, and route development, drawing on the advanced experience of British Columbia. She emphasized that Haikou will leverage its favorable climate, policy advantages, and infrastructure, while providing optimal policy support and services to jointly create new opportunities.

Wang Ke delivered a targeted presentation based on the characteristics of the Vancouver and Canadian sports tourism market. He highlighted the strong complementarity between Vancouver’s mature outdoor sports culture and Haikou’s tropical coastal resources. The two sides could collaborate on joint training, friendly competitions, and youth exchange programs in sports such as golf and sailing. Leveraging Vancouver’s role as a North American gateway, they could also design multi-destination cross-border sports tourism routes, offering Canadian travelers a seamless journey from Vancouver to Haikou via Hong Kong.

Hainan Airlines and Mission Hills Tourism Resort also presented their respective airline networks and tourism resources. Zhu Dingyao, Vice Chairman of Mission Hills Group, noted that Canada is an important source market, with a large Chinese community that aligns well with Haikou’s wellness and leisure positioning. As a leading integrated resort destination, Mission Hills features world-class golf courses, luxury hotel clusters, immersive film culture experiences, and a Guinness World Record-holding volcanic mineral hot spring, inviting visitors to experience its offerings firsthand.

During the open discussion session, guests from various sectors actively shared insights. Representatives from the sports industry praised the top-tier facilities of Mission Hills’ golf courses and Haikou’s pleasant climate, noting their strong appeal to global golf enthusiasts. Tourism professionals shared their positive experiences from visiting Hainan last year, emphasizing the province’s unique tourism resources and strong potential in the North American market. Financial sector representatives highlighted the growing interest of overseas capital in the policy benefits of the Hainan Free Trade Port, with Canadian investors showing keen interest in participating in Hainan-related projects.

Notably, the 6th China International Consumer Products Expo was recently held successfully in Haikou, where Canada participated as the Guest Country of Honor for the first time. The showcase of high-quality consumer brands and innovation further boosted attention to China-Canada economic and trade cooperation, adding confidence to the discussions at this symposium.

The event also featured posters, English brochures, and cultural creative gifts to present Haikou’s tourism highlights, while encouraging guests to follow Haikou’s overseas social media platforms, enabling both online and offline engagement.

Targeted Engagement to Attract Overseas Visitors

The Haikou delegation placed particular emphasis on understanding the needs of Canadian travelers in sports travel and event-related tourism. Through face-to-face exchanges, they gained valuable insights into North American preferences for tropical coastal sports tourism products, laying a solid foundation for targeted market development and customized travel route design.

According to officials from the Haikou Bureau of Tourism, Culture, Radio, Television and Sports, the city is accelerating its transformation-from event attraction to brand building, and from single-sector development to deep integration of culture, sports, tourism, and commerce. Haikou aims to become an internationally influential “City of Sports Events” and “Capital of Performing Arts.” Leveraging the policy advantages of the Hainan Free Trade Port, the city continues to improve inbound consumption convenience through measures such as multilingual payment systems, instant tax refunds for departing visitors, and advance compensation mechanisms, further enhancing its image as a “fashionable and vibrant consumption city.”

On April 29 (local time), Vice Mayor Lü Xiaolei led the delegation in a series of working meetings with senior officials from international football organizations, including Daniel O’Toole, Director of the Executive Office of FIFA; Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, President of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC); Valentino Sangiuliano, Chairman of the EAFF Competitions Committee; and Shin Man-gil, Deputy Secretary General of the AFC. Discussions focused on football event hosting, youth training systems, and industrial cooperation.

Held a working meeting with FIFA Executive Office Director Daniel O’Toole.

Held a working meeting with Asian Football Confederation President Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa.

During the meetings, the delegation presented promotional videos on Haikou’s tourism, its vision as a city of sports events, and Mission Hills, along with supporting brochures. These materials showcased the city’s appeal, sports development achievements, and high-quality football training facilities. The discussions explored topics such as the integration of football event resources in East Asia, enhancing the event-hosting capacity of the Mission Hills China Football (South) Training Base in Haikou, and future regional cooperation in football exchanges. The delegation also introduced the policy advantages of the Hainan Free Trade Port and Haikou’s plans to build an international sports tourism destination, expressing its intention to host more EAFF youth tournaments and professional club winter training matches, positioning Haikou as a key hub for football exchange in East Asia.

Held a working meeting with East Asian Football Federation Competitions Committee Chairman Valentino Sangiuliano and Asian Football Confederation Deputy Secretary General Shin Man-gil.

Held a working meeting with Bora Milutinović, youth training advisor at Aspire Academy.

During a break in the talks, Lü Xiaolei, Vice Mayor of the Haikou Municipal People’s Government, held a working exchange with Song Kai, President of the Chinese Football Association, expressing appreciation for the association’s support and assistance. Song Kai highly commended the Haikou delegation’s active engagement and expressed hope that Haikou would continue to intensify its efforts to facilitate the introduction and hosting of major international football events in the city.

Song Kai, President of the Chinese Football Association, held a working meeting with Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, President of the Asian Football Confederation.

Haikou is currently leveraging the opportunities presented by the Hainan Free Trade Port to vigorously develop its sports industry, with football as a key focus. These high-level dialogues with FIFA and AFC officials have created an important platform for the city’s international football development. Moving forward, Haikou will work to translate these discussions into concrete projects, seek support from international organizations, and build a football competition and training base that serves Asia and connects to the world-contributing to international exchanges in Chinese football and the high-quality development of Hainan’s sports tourism industry.

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