Duty-free sales in Hainan jump 236% to over $7b

A tourist shops at a duty-free store in Hainan province. [Photo/for China Daily by Meng Zhongde]

Offshore duty-free sales in Hainan province hit 45.5 billion yuan ($7.11 billion) during June 1 of 2020 to May 31 of 2021, a surge of 236 percent from a year earlier, the chinanews.com reported on Monday.

The number of duty-free shoppers increased 144 percent year-on-year to 8.77 million, who collectively purchased 47 million items, up 152 percent year-on-year.

The island province increased its annual tax-free shopping quota from 30,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan per person last July, with the range of duty-free goods also expanded from 38 categories to 45, while the previous tax-free limit of 8,000 yuan for a single product was also lifted.

By introducing competitive mechanism, the province introduced more duty-free business entities including 10 duty-free shops and 6 duty-free business entities. The area of duty-free shop expended to 210,000 square meters from 7,000 square meters, and the number of international brands increased to 650 from less than 100.

Moreover, the single store sales of over 20 well-known brands ranked the first spot among the global tourism retail, including Estee Lauder, Cartier, BVLGARI, and Tiffany&Co.