China boosts tourism in Hainan with two new offshore duty-free shops

South China’s island province of Hainan now has nine duty-free shops in total  

As reported by xinhuanet.com, two new offshore duty-free shops were launched in Haikou, Hainan, increasing the total number of shops to nine, which will greatly uplift the province into an international tourism and consumption destination.  

One of the shops known as Global Premium Duty-Free Plaza, is situated in a large shopping mall in downtown Haikou, and includes products such as electronic goods, cosmetics, perfumes, and imported wine.  

The plaza opened its first phase on Sunday, while its second and third phases are expected to be completed by June and September 2021 respectively.  

The other shop ran by a Shenzhen company offers close to 500 international brands.  

“Competition impels duty-free companies to enrich products and improve services. Their competitive advantages will help build Hainan into a globally influential tourism and consumption destination, and further attract back home more overseas spending by Chinese consumers,” said Wang Jiansheng, chairman of the Hainan Tourism Development Research Association.  

One of the policy changes in Hainan includes increasing the annual tax-free shopping quota from RMB30,000 (USD4,667) to RMB100,000 per person. Categories of duty-free products have also been expanded from 38 to 45 sorts.  

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Following policy upgrades, the average daily duty-free sales reached RMB120 million by the end of 2020.  

Insiders mentioned that the island’s duty-free shopping industry is anticipated to transform into a 100-billion-yuan business in the upcoming years.  

Xie Zhiyong, general manager of Hainan Tourism Investment Duty-free Co., Ltd. said, “Hainan’s duty-free market has huge potential.”