Two young tourists look at the Li women weaving Li brocade, an ancient textile craft invented by the Li people, at the Binlang Valley Cultural Tourism Zone in Baoting county, South China's Hainan province, June 11, 2015. [Photo by Wang Hao/China Daily]

Cruise liners stop off at Sanya after Hong Kong en route to Vietnam, but there are only likely to be 33 visits this year, compared with 113 in 2013, because of concerns by operators about territorial disputes in the area.

Zhou Chunhua, director of the Sanya Tourism Development Commission, speaking in a 28th-floor executive apartment overlooking the azure blue bay, says the key to popularizing Sanya among foreign tourists are cruise ships.

"A cruise ship can stop for seven or eight hours and people can visit the city. When they go home they can tell people about Sanya," she says.

Sanya is at the vanguard of Hainan's efforts to become an international tourist destination by 2020, with visitor numbers growing 17.9 percent annually for the past five years. Hotel room capacity has increased by 7 percent over the past five years, and another 50 hotels are set to be built within four years.

"One of the problems of Sanya is it is often known only in China and people who own yachts but not by the mass market, and that is what we want to address," she adds.

Lily Chen, marketing manager of Sanya Visun Royal Yacht Club, a prime haunt of the Chinese superrich, says business has been affected by the government's anti-corruption campaign.

The club has 800 members - almost all Chinese - paying 198,000 yuan for five years' membership.

"The economy also has not really been that good over the past two years, and that has affected business."

She says many Chinese buy yachts just to entertain people in the marina.

"Many actually don't know how to sail, so they use the yacht to meet friends. We are keen to educate members and teach them how to sail," she adds.

Briggs at Wendy Wu Tours says one of the best opportunities for Hainan is to attract second- and third-time visitors to China who have already seen the Great Wall, the Forbidden City in Beijing and the 21st-century Shanghai shopping malls.

"It could be attractive for those who have been to China before and have done all the bucket list sites," he says.

"They might want to add a beach destination for a few days at the end of the trip."