By July 10, 2010, southern China's Hainan province had received 1,096 visa-free tour groups, with a total 22,359 tourists, according to official figures released by the local government.

In the first half of the year, the number of overseas tourist arrivals nearly tripled to 316,000.

Earlier this year China's State Council announced a series of plans to turn Hainan Island into a top international tourism destination by 2020.

With the recent addition of Finland, Denmark, Norway, Kazakstan, and Ukraine, the tropical island now offers visa-free access to tour groups from 26 countries. The new visa policies also cut the group size requirement from five to two, for visitors from Russia, South Korea, and Germany, and the maximum length of stay has been increased to 21 days from the previous 15.

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