Ded-free shopping boomed in China's Hainan

HAIKOU - During the week-long Spring Festival holiday that ended on Friday, duty-free shopping boomed in South China's island province of Hainan as its tourism rebounded, unleashing new consumption vitality.

Hainan had a total of 1.56 billion yuan, about $234 million in offshore duty-free sales during the holiday, a year-on-year increase of 5.88 percent, according to Haikou Customs.

The number of shoppers for duty-free products in Hainan increased from Jan 21 to 27 to 157,000, an increase of 9.51 percent from last year's Spring Festival holiday, which ran from Jan 31 to Feb 6. Each shopper spent an average of 10,000 yuan.

In October 2022, Haikou International Duty-Free Shopping Complex opened in Haikou, the world's largest stand-alone duty-free shopping mall.

Duty-free shops in Hainan launched a number of promotional activities during the holiday, boosting the vitality of duty-free consumption.

Duty-free shopping is an essential part of the trip in Hainan for many tourists.

Wu Lan, a tourist from Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi province, and her family came to Hainan on a road trip for the first time to spend the Spring Festival there. They traveled for more than 10 days around the island from Haikou to Sanya.

Despite having bought many skincare products and cosmetics in Sanya's duty-free shops, Wu still purchased duty-free goods back in Haikou. She said there are a wide range of brands for consumers, and there is a wide range of brands for duty-free goods here.

ALSO READ: As travel resumes, China luxury shoppers ask: Paris or Hainan?

The Haikou International Duty-Free Shopping Complex was crowded with tourists on Thursday.

There are many coupons and various products to choose from during the Spring Festival. Wang Yulin, a tourist who traveled with his family in Hainan, said that we can also have the goods delivered at home.

In June 2020, China released a master plan to build Hainan into a global influential and high-level free trade port by the middle of the century. Over the last few years, the island province has become an attractive shopping destination for domestic consumers.

There are 12 duty-free shops in Hainan, including six in Haikou, four in Sanya, one in Qionghai and one in Wanning.

Duty-free shopping has become an important part of the development of the Hainan international tourism and consumption center. The island saw its annual sales of duty-free shopping grow by more than 50 times since 2011, with duty-free goods worth more than 100 billion yuan sold, according to the provincial department of commerce.

The province received nearly 6.4 million tourists during the Spring FestivalSpring Festival holiday, up 18.2 percent year-on-year, and raked in nearly 9.3 billion yuan in tourism revenue, according to the provincial tourism authority.

Hainan will focus on boosting consumer demand and boosting the island's number of tourists and tourism revenue this year. Feng Fei, the governor of Hainan, said that it expects to see its offshore duty-free sales exceed 80 billion yuan in 2023.