Hainan’s Sudden Spin: A Summer Getaway Gone Wrong
From Paradise to Purgatory
In 2021, Yang Jing, a savvy businesswoman from Jiangxi, booked a sunny escape to Hainan—an island that had practically nailed the Covid‑19 game with only two symptomatic cases last year. Fast forward to this August, and the islands’ pristine record crashed into chaos. The city of Sanya, the island’s beach‑bonanza hub, hit the brakes with a full‑scale lockdown on Saturday, August 6, halting trains, blocking flights, and leaving a motley crew of around 80,000 tourists stranded inside hotels.
Family Matters: Hostel‑Life for the Jeans
- Yang, her husband, and their kid are staying in a private four‑star hotel, all cash‑burn.
- To keep the snack budget low, they’ve turned to the humble yet delectable “pot noodles” every single day.
- “This is the worst holiday of my life,” Yang sighed, over the sea of people locked in.
Numbers That Quck: Rising Cases All Over Hainan
Sanya alone logged 689 symptomatic and 282 asymptomatic cases between August 1 and 7. Nearby towns—Danzhou, Dongfang, Lingshui, Lingao—also racked up double‑digit spikes. The rail station shut down sales, and more than 80 % of flights to or from Sanya were cancelled, per CCTV and Variflight data.
The “Half‑Price” Hype Hurdle
The city promised half‑price hotel rates for stranded guests, but a flurry of WeChat complaints aired that the discount never materialised. A frustrated tourist from Jiangsu, name withheld, writes: “We’re trying to lodge complaints, but nobody’s talking to us. Where is the help?”
A Catch‑22: Borders Remain Closed
Since the pandemic began, foreign tourists have been barred from Hainan, with strict quarantine rules and a permanent visa shutdown. Now even snipping the jetty tie‑down has left families like Yang’s staring out of windows with nothing to do but hope for an exit.
Unity & Satire: The Road to Freedom
While the island’s government fights to re‑build its tourist appeal, the spirit of the group remains unfazed. A handful of residents are finding humor in the chaos—imagine a beach resort turned into a giant snowball fight, where the snowballs are pandemic‑policy tweets. Only time will tell if Hainan will once again become the sparkling gem of the South China Sea it once was.
Never coming back
Hainan Honeymoon Gets a Bump for a Couple on the Run
Picture this: a foreign couple, fresh from a wedding celebration, are stuck in Sanya, the sun‑kissed island, because of another COVID lockdown. What’s worse than the chaos? The double whammy of skyrocketing costs and a food supply shortage that feels like a bad joke.
Why the nightmare feels like a second Shanghai
One hotel guest, who’s 27‑year‑old and probably has a very good passport, raves that the extra fees for food delivery, hotel meals, and even the flight out of Hainan have increased so dramatically that his entire honeymoon budget was just a few days ago. He added that his hotel was running out of supplies, a fact that he wouldn’t want to share with the local tourist board—they’re probably too busy judging Airbnb cleanliness.
“We just hope it won’t turn into another Shanghai,” he muttered, recalling the infamous two‑month lockdown that turned the city into a frozen slice of time.
The biggest question: will Hainan scare away future visitors?
When the lockdown hit Shanghai, Beijing’s bragging about its “superior” pandemic handling slipped like a wet roar from a whale. Now, the latest heatwave is on Hainan, threatening to tank the island’s tourism forever.
“In short, we will never come back!” shouted Zhou—yes, the guy on the honeymoon—along with six family members. It’s a perfect example of how a sudden lockdown can make a vacation feel like a medical emergency.
What the authorities have to say
Sanya officials clarified that tourists who satisfy five negative COVID‑19 tests can finally make a break for the mainland next Saturday. While that’s a relief, the wait for results is torture by length. “I ended up doing a morning test, a lunch test, and a post‑lunch test just to gamble on the shortest wait,” said Yang, juggling the same tests like a circus performer.
Yang is not alone. The internet is littered with upbeat posts about the Sanya government’s “properly resettling 80,000 stranded tourists.” That sounds like Disney’s executive‑level “make‑it‑happen” speech—when in reality, people are shouting, “We’re the victims, not the heroes!”
How the lockdown could feel
- Constrained budgets: Food delivery surged like an iceberg.
- Low supplies: Hotels started running on vacuum‑cleaner‑level inventory.
- Long tests: Everyone’s coffee time became waiting time.
- Lost confidence: The overall vibe? “Maybe this trip’s a one‑way ticket, people.”
Bottom line: A honeymoon turn‑off sign is visible for many. If the Hainan lockdown is a “second Shanghai,” then it’s a reminder that tourism can be as unpredictable as the weather—except the forecasts have become delightfully comedic.
