The Chinese Government has started to roll out plans to turn the southern island of Hainan into what is being called a “global destination” and the private sector has been quick to rally to the cause.

New resorts, visa-free entry to tourists from more countries, duty-free shopping for everyone and the possibility of more sports-betting “lotteries” to increase revenue flow have been touted by the government as ways to lure the world to a destination commonly referred to as the “Hawaii of China.”

China’s southern Hainan island is playing up its tropical climate in a major plan to position itself as a “golf island”, the capital of the sport in China.

Golf courses have sprouted like mushrooms across the country as the sport catches on, but no place has hitched its wagon to the sport’s boom quite like Hainan, which resembles an oval golf green on a map of the South China Sea.

A decade ago, there were no golf courses here; today there are more than 20 and long-term goals include an eventual 100 courses.