From Sanya resorts to Wanning surf culture and duty-free tourism, Hainan is attempting something bigger: becoming a global destination of its own. The comparison became so persistent that “China’s Hawaii” and “the Hawaii of the East” followed Hainan through decades of tourism coverage. A 2025 retrospective published by Xinhua on more than 30 years of Hainan tourism promotion records one of the island’s early slogans as:“Hawaii is too far; come to China’s Hainan Island!” But an extensive search did not turn up convincing documentation that “Aloha” itself was formally adopted or “taken” as an official Hainan tourism slogan. But Hainan is not yet an international tourism destination in the same sense as Phuket, Bali or Hawaii.