On the first day of the May Day holiday, 11 tourists from Sanya, Hainan, set out to sea on a motorboat, but got separated from their guide due to rain and ended up stranded in the sea for an hour, feeling “shivering cold.”
According to a report by the New Beijing News, the incident occurred on May 1st when only one guide led the group of 11 tourists out to sea. It was raining heavily that day, causing all the tourists to lose sight of the guide. After being stranded for an hour, they finally managed to reach the shore and contacted the guide to return.
One of the tourists mentioned, “We were only wearing shorts and short sleeves at that time. The cold wind blowing on our bodies felt piercingly cold, making us shiver. (After returning) limbs were sore, feeling weak and exhausted.”
In response to this incident, the staff from the Sanya Tourism Service Center stated that the guide did not intentionally abandon the tourists, and they are currently investigating the situation on-site to improve the quality of service.
The response from the service center has stirred dissatisfaction online. Many netizens expressed their discontent, saying, “Better not to go to Sanya.” “There’s no place in Sanya without pitfalls! Raise your hand if you agree! One pit after another, impossible to guard against!” “Sanya’s tourism collapses every day.” “With the same price, isn’t it more enjoyable to go to Thailand?”
On the evening of May 2nd, the office of the Tourism Working Group in Jiyang District, Sanya, Hainan, reported that the relevant tourists had not lost contact with the guide and had all safely returned. They have also guided the tourists to apply for advance compensation through the “Sanya Rest Assured Travel Platform.”
On May 3rd, the topic of “Multiple tourists in Sanya separated from the guide, stranded in the sea for an hour” surged to the top of the trending list on Weibo.