The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse the Chinese destination of Hainan, with background in a globalizing tourism destination development, for tourism from Finland and Sweden. The questions at issue are regarding what kind of an impact the status as a special economic zone have had upon Hainan, what kind of conditions there are for tourism on the island, in what form participants of the tourism industry want the development to proceed, what the prevailing trend is for distant destinations for Nordic markets and also regarding what kind of potential there is for organized tourism to Hainan from Finland and Sweden.

As a foundation for the paper, I’ve composed a theoretical reference for knowledge of China, Hainan and the study of destinations. The sources of secondary kind are literature related to the subject. The primary sources are mainly interviews, field work done at Hainan has given a concrete and personal knowledge of the place. The interviews are with Finnish and Swedish travel operators, Chinese embassy representatives in Finland and Sweden, on Hainan both Nordic tourists and tourism industry stakeholders were interviewed.

The analysis bring forth that Hainan do have relatively good conditions for tourism. The destination has gone through a relatively rapid development, mainly focused upon domestic tourism. The development has led to an infrastructure for tourism, and as experienced during my visit, this is obvious through widespread tourism related building. The status of Hainan as a Special Economic Zone, received during the late 1980s, has facilitated the development of tourism. Although the status has lost its real function as once had, favourable conditions facilitated rapid tourism development, giving as an example tourism development zones. The prevailing development of Hainan, is the making of a top class resort destination. This is foremost aimed at the domestic market, but increasing at international markets such as the Nordic ones. The participants on Hainan seem to have a relatively common standpoint, in the process of attracting increasing amounts of Nordic visitors. Regarding Finnish and Swedish operators, distant destinations seem to have a certain degree of development possibilities. As flexible means of travel increases, changes are given upon the volume of travel. Connected to this, is different resulting opportunities for destinations, depending on volume and demand from tourists. Hainan being a distant destination, would need large volumes to justify significant arrangements. Finnish and Swedish operators are somewhat interested of Hainan, although varying depending on operator and to a great deal on the current small volumes. In conclusion, Hainan represents a globalizing tourism destination development, giving new tourism places. There is need of accomplishing demand in Finland and Sweden for Hainan, to get pronounced volumes of organised arrangements. Tough competition give the need for a proactive and aggressive approach from the participants of Hainan to achieve these volumes. Of importance for further development, is to produce an increasing demand in the Finnish and Swedish markets, that the destination bring forth a more palpable domestic/local form of culture and that a suitable form of travel to Hainan at present, for an example is combination tours.