Boao Pickleball Open draws 500 players as Hainan boosts sports tourism

More than 500 players from 12 countries and regions converged on Boao for the 2026 Boao Pickleball Open, turning a coastal resort best known for state-level conferences into one of Hainan’s clearest demonstrations yet of how pickleball is being used to sell the island as a sports destination.

The tournament opened in Boao, Hainan, with competition framed around more than medals. Organizers are positioning it as a platform for campus outreach and public participation, a sign that Hainan wants pickleball to do more than fill courts for one week. It is part spectacle, part growth strategy, with the island trying to scale the sport through visibility, access and a steady stream of events that keep players coming back.

That approach fits Boao’s larger identity. The Boao Forum for Asia has met there every year since 2001, built around the idea of promoting Asian economic integration, and its 2026 annual conference marked the forum’s 25th anniversary in late March. The same shoreline that hosts diplomacy and policy debate is now being used to sell movement, tourism and a newer kind of regional exchange through sport.

Hainan is backing that push with a packed 2026 calendar. The DP World Tour Hainan Classic ran from March 19 to 22, and the 6th Asian Beach Games followed from April 22 to 30, giving the island a run of international sports events that stretches well beyond pickleball. The WPC China Masters also staged in Hainan from January 5 to 10, underlining that Boao is not an isolated stop but part of a broader run of high-profile pickleball activity across the province.

The infrastructure is growing with the schedule. The Asia Elite Pickleball Academy in Hainan was announced to open in March 2026 on the Hainan campus of Beijing Haidian Foreign Language Experimental School, starting with 11 courts and a plan to expand to about 30. Pickleball Champions League Asia has also set its Rising Stars Finals in Hainan, describing it as the region’s first structured youth pickleball championship for players aged 19 and below.

That matters because Hainan is trying to turn sports into a tourism product, not just an event calendar. During the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2026, the province said 861,000 inbound and outbound travelers crossed its border in the first 100 days of special customs operations, including 217,000 visa-free arrivals. With nationals of 86 countries now able to enter visa-free, Hainan is betting that easier access, more events and youth pathways can make pickleball part of the island’s broader appeal across Asia.