"We had to work for others to accumulate money to open a travel agency specially designed for Russian tourists," said Dong.

At the time, few Russian tourists knew of Sanya, so the couple promoted the city's tourism through Ivanov's friends in the border trading business in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province.

Ivanov joined an international travel agency in Sanya in 1996, and the big moment in his career came a year later, when he and his colleagues were able to bring in over 100 tourists from Siberia to Sanya on a chartered flight.

In 1998, Ivanov and Dong opened their travel agency in Sanya, which was the first of its kind to introduce Russian tourists to the city.

Their good management and hard work finally paid off, and soon the number of Russian tourists registering at their agency started growing noticeably.

The number of Russian tourists contacting their agency has reached over 10,000 annually.

"Currently, an increasing number of Russian tourists are coming here to do business, work or relax, which gives me the chance to make more money in the tourism market," Ivanov said.

According to statistics from the Tourism and Development Commission of Sanya (TDCS), the total number of Russian tourists visiting Sanya exceeded 10,000 in 2004 and grew to about 190,000 in 2012.

Ivanov was honored with the national Friendship Award in 2010 for his contributions to promoting Sanya to Russians since 1994.

"I will continue to expand our services in the tourism market, not only for Russian tourists but for those from other countries," Ivanov said.