The Boao Forum for Asia is the reason most non-Chinese travellers have heard of Bo'ao at all. Founded in 2001 and modelled on the World Economic Forum at Davos, it brings together heads of state, business leaders, and academics from across Asia every spring for several days of panels, bilateral meetings, and the particular atmosphere of a diplomatic gathering stranded on a peninsula with limited exit options. The permanent conference centre occupies Dongyu Island, the largest island at the river mouth, connected to the town by a bridge.
Outside forum season — roughly March to April — the infrastructure of luxury hotels, manicured roads, and well-maintained landscaping that was built to host presidents sits largely quiet. You can walk around the conference centre grounds, view the architecture, and appreciate the peculiarity of a world-class diplomatic venue attached to a town of 10,000 people. The scale and quality of the construction gives Bo'ao an otherworldly quality during the off-season: polished marble walkways, empty plazas, the occasional security camera. Bill Gates, Christine Lagarde, and Ban Ki-moon have all been here.
If you happen to be in Hainan during the Forum (typically late March or early April), much of the town is closed to non-delegates, but the energy and the brief presence of international media give Bo'ao a completely different character for those few days.