Photo taken on March 23, 2018 shows the Inaugural Ceremony Site of Boao Forum for Asia, Qionghai City of south China's Hainan Province. The 2018 Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) is scheduled for April 8-11 in Boao, a town in the southern Chinese island province of Hainan. (Xinhua/Yang Guanyu)

BEIJING, April 18 (Xinhua) -- China will offer greater visa-free access for tourists from 59 countries to Hainan from May 1, in a move to support reform and opening up in the country's southernmost island province, the State Immigration Administration announced Wednesday.

Under the new policy, group and individual tourists from 59 countries, including Russia, Britain, France, Germany, and the United States, can visit Hainan visa-free and stay there for up to 30 days on condition that they book their tour through travel agencies.

Hainan has offered a 15-day visa-free stay for group tourists from 21 countries since 2000, and added another five countries to the list in 2010.

"By extending the policy to individuals and the stay to up to 30 days, the government aims to attract more international tourists, nurture the tourism industry and meet the needs of foreign individuals," said the administration's vice head Qu Yunhai.

The eased visa-free access to Hainan is part of China's effort to build the province into "a free trade port with Chinese characteristics," as stated in the guidelines on supporting Hainan to deepen reform and opening up, released by central authorities Saturday.

The island has become a famous tropical resort for overseas tourists in recent years, with the number of overseas tourists exceeding 1.1 million in 2017, up nearly 50 percent year on year.

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