Authorities in China’s holiday hotspot of Hainan plan to allow access to western social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in a bid to boost tourism numbers.
The social media sites along with various foreign news media sites have long been blocked in the country, a policy known as the Great Firewall of China.
Even search engine Google is blocked across China.
Foreign tourists will be able to gain access to the social media sites in designated areas in the island’s major cities Haikou and Sanya.
The Hainan government also plans to promote tourism through marketing campaigns on the sites.
There has been a big push in recent times to transform Hainan – known as China’s Hawaii – from a largely domestic holiday destination to a global tourism hotspot.
To help achieve this Hainan plans to recruit up to 50,000 English-speaking hospitality workers under a three-year strategic tourism plan.
