THE island province of Hainan on Sunday launched a campaign to attract businesses and investments, the latest move to build itself into a pilot free trade zone and eventually a free trade port.

The campaign, lasting around 100 days starting Sunday, will focus on attracting businesses and investments in tourism, modern service industry, and high-tech industry, according to the provincial government.

It will specifically target at attracting Fortune 500 companies, global industry leaders and well-known brands to set up headquarters, industry parks and undertake projects in the province.

The provincial government is working with tech giant Tencent to set up a website to be launched in June for releasing and presenting projects online.

China in April announced its plan to build the whole island of Hainan into a pilot free trade zone and support Hainan to gradually and steadily push ahead with the building of a free trade port.

The government is also planning to grant more countries visa-free access to Hainan, the Securities Times quoted an official as saying Saturday, in a move aimed at further opening up the island province to foreign investment.

Chi Fulin, the head of the Hainan-based China Institute for Reform and Development, told a forum Saturday that the visa-free access policy would be expanded to tourists from all countries that have diplomatic ties with China.

“(The implementation) of the policy won’t take long,” Chi was quoted as saying.

Under the current arrangement, tourists from 59 countries, including the United States, can visit Hainan visa-free and stay there for up to 30 days.

He said he expected Hainan’s population to grow to around 15 million from around 9 million now. (SD-Xinhua)