Activities such as the beach volleyball invitational tournament and the beach volleyball experience camp held in August in Wenchang have ignited the public's passion for beach sports in Hainan province, with the island province eager to develop a beach sports industry with distinctive Hainan characteristics.

Since the Hainan Ocean Sports Season was launched in 2017, the city of Wenchang has launched the beach volleyball events for three consecutive years in Gaolong Bay and Qishui Bay, with more than 10,000 sports enthusiasts participating in them.

Volleyball players compete at a beach volleyball invitational tournament in Wenchang, Hainan province. [Photo/chinanews.com]

In August, the 2019 Hainan Ocean Sports Season launched a range of activities including beach volleyball, a volleyball camp, and beach football in coastal cities of Hainan, functioning as a warm-up for the 6th Asian Beach Games, which will be hosted in Sanya from Nov 28 to Dec 6 next year.

"The Hainan Ocean Sports Season seeks to integrate beach sports, the national fitness campaign, and sports tourism, so that tourists can enjoy not only sunshine and beaches in Hainan, but also fun sports, such as sand-skiing and learn more about Hainan's marine culture," said Xia Minhui, director of the Sports and Tourism Industries Research Center of Hainan Normal University.

In recent years, the Hainan Ocean Sports Season has made full use of high-quality marine and beach resources in Hainan. It has been dedicated to cultivating beach sports with distinctive local features.

We have to string all these sports up and build a special beach carnival, Xia added, saying that there is still great room for Hainan to develop its beach sports and tourism, comparing it to Hawaii, whose featured sports cover land, sea, and air.