Go home!" the crowd chanted in response.

Forced stays

China's borders have been closed to international tourists since the start of the pandemic, meaning tourist hotspots like Sanya rely even more on domestic travelers.

The Sanya government said Saturday that tourists with canceled flights could book discounted hotel rooms.

After the outcry, the family said they were able to access cheaper food options at the hotel.

Other social media posts by trapped tourists in Sanya accused some hotels of raising their prices to cash in on the forced stays.

It said more than 3,200 tourists stuck at the airport on Saturday would be given seven days of accommodation and food.

On Monday, Sanya airport canceled all of its 418 flights, according to flight-tracking site Variflight.

Among the tourists stuck were Shanghai residents who had gone to Hainan for summer holidays after enduring a grueling two-month lockdown in the Chinese financial hub earlier this year.

A foreign resident of Shanghai who arrived in Sanya on July 26 said he had to leave his hotel last Thursday because it was requisitioned by the local government as a quarantine facility.