File photo of Sanya [Provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

With its stunning white beaches and shimmering blue waters, Sanya on Hainan Island in China's southernmost province, has been named one of 52 Places to Go this year by the New York Times.

It's the first time a Chinese city has made the influential list.

Sanya, known as the Hawaii of China, ranked 20th on the newspaper's annual list for its rich resources and unique tourist experience.

Sanya is China's beach destination of choice, the paper said.

The tropical destination is in the midst of a resort boom, and its eye-catching properties are reason enough to visit, according to the New York Times, which has compiled the Places to Go list for 12 straight years.

Nearly all the leading global hotel groups have invested in Sanya. Already there's a Park Hyatt, a Shangri-La, a Mandarin Oriental, a Ritz-Carlton and a St. Regis. Late last year, Ian Schrager's luxe Edition — a 500-room resort with a long list of amenities — opened. Due to open in March, is luxury resort One & Only Sanya, set amid 28 acres of coconut palms. Also on the drawing board are The Atlantis and Rosewood.

Every year, the Times collects ideas from its readers and contributors, many of whom live overseas or roam the globe, to make its annual 52 Places to Go list that aims for geographic and thematic diversity.

"We look for a mix of destinations both well-known and off the beaten path. That means we often exclude the very obvious spots; even though cities like London, Berlin and Tokyo are always exciting, they didn’t make this year’s list," the paper explained.

Sanya is also a popular destination for international meetings and events. In recent years, the city has made great strides in enhancing its product offering, welcoming the opening of big-brand hotels with stellar meeting spaces.

Last year, the Sanya Tourism Development Commission took pro-active steps to increase its destination appeal to attract international planners. It is working hard to leverage its strengths as a beach and maritime destination to attract corporate events of strategic importance.

Sanya attracted more than 16.5 million visitors last year, with overseas visitors making up 440,000, an increase of 25 percent compared to last year, according to the local government.

The city has more than 1,750 hotels of varying standards. The popular resort has capped the price for a standard hotel room at 6,000 yuan ($873) a night for the upcoming Spring Festival to combat price gouging.