Tourists experience "undersea walking" at the Wuzhizhou Island in Sanya, South China's Hainan Province, Jan 11, 2020. (Photo: Xinhua)

HAIKOU — More than 83 million tourists from home and abroad visited southern China's tropical island province of Hainan in 2019, up nine percent year on year, local authorities said Thursday.

Hainan's tourism revenue went up 11 percent over the previous year to 105 billion yuan (about $15 billion) last year, according to the provincial department of tourism, culture, radio, television and sports.

Last year, Hainan received 1.42 million overseas tourists, up 12.4 percent year on year.

Eight large tourism enterprises including the China Duty Free Group and China Tourism Group set up their headquarters or regional headquarters in Hainan last year.

China plans to build Hainan into an international tourism and consumption center by 2025 and globally influential tourism and consumption destination by 2035.