Duty-free shopping booms in Hainan during summer vacation

Tourists shop at a duty-free shopping complex in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, July 12, 2023. (Xinhua/Yang Guanyu)

With the arrival of summer holidays, south China's Hainan province once again attracts a stream of visitors to its duty-free shops. As the 2nd 2023 Hainan International Duty-free Shopping Festival is taking place, the duty-free shops on the island are providing bigger discounts to consumers in a wide variety of ways.

-- Hainan embraces a new wave of summer duty-free shopping 

At 10 a.m., eager tourists rush into the Haikou International Duty-Free Shopping Complex on the west coast of Haikou, capital of Hainan Province, ready to embark on their shopping spree in this tropical paradise.

"Since the kids are on summer vacation, we decided to take a trip. Duty-free shopping indeed plays a significant role in our decision to visit Hainan," said Xu Bei, a tourist from central China's Hubei Province.

She added that her family went to many famous tourist attractions, such as Wuzhizhou Island and Haitang Bay in the resort city of Sanya, and Haikou was their final destination before heading back.

Likewise, Yang Shan, a tourist from east China's Shandong Province, also planned her itinerary to allow visits to both Sanya and Haikou, setting aside one day for duty-free shopping with her little daughter.

"Duty-free discounts are so substantial that goods here are even cheaper than shopping online, and their quality is guaranteed. In traveling to Hainan, we've enjoyed both sightseeing and duty-free shopping. It's such a great two-in-one experience and I feel very satisfied," said Yang.

Yao Xinyu works as a salesman for a Swiss watch and jewelry brand in the duty-free city in Haikou. Since summer vacation began, there has been a notable increase in foot traffic, and the daily sales have increased by about 30 to 40 percent compared to the period before the holidays, according to Yao.

-- Satisfying new consumer demands with duty-free shopping trips

At the beginning of July, Hainan launched the two-month 2023 Hainan International Duty-free Shopping Festival. Through distribution of duty-free shopping vouchers and the hosting of summer parent-child duty-free shopping activities, the festival delivers a diversified shopping experience and real discounts to consumers.

"We have organized diverse activities for groups like families and students during the summer holidays," said Sun Huiyan, the sales manager of the duty-free shopping mall. She added that August would see a series of events related to the Qixi Festival, or the Chinese Valentine's Day, and also electronics. 

During the Festival, GDF Plaza, a Hainan-based global duty-free shopping mall  located in the downtown of Haikou, launched the Midsummer Parent-Child Music Festival, including various activities such as the "Art and Culture Corridor" targeting tourists from all over the country.

-- Duty-free shopping plus cultural tourism boosts tourism consumption in Hainan

Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission released the Measures for the Recovery and Expansion of Consumption, which specifically highlights "strengthening Hainan's role as an international tourism consumption center".

Hainan now boasts 12 offshore duty-free shops, covering basically all the major tourist cities in the province. In addition to the original delivery service in a designated area, four more delivery methods are now available.

Since the introduction of the new policy on offshore duty-free shopping in July 2020, a total of 17.67 million shoppers had purchased 175 million duty-free products worth 130.7 billion yuan on the island by June 30 this year, according to the customs of Haikou, the capital of Hainan.

Since the beginning of this year, Hainan Province has rolled out a series of measures to accelerate the recovery of offshore duty-free consumption. From January to July, 4.199 million shoppers purchased 34.03 million duty-free products on the island, which was worth 28.93 billion yuan, according to the customs of Haikou.

During the 2nd Hainan International Duty-free Shopping Festival, the four cities of Haikou, Sanya, Wanning, and Qionghai worked with the duty-free shops across the province in launching over 30 promotional activities, so as to further release the consumption potential and stimulate the vitality of duty-free shopping.

With the boom of duty-free shopping, tourism consumption continues to rebound. Official statistics show that in the first half of this year, Hainan received 46.07 million visits, a year-on-year increase of 32.8 percent.

In the future, efforts will be made to build a one-stop "shopping destination", create a new high-end consumption scenario featuring "duty-free shopping plus cultural tourism", and strengthen Hainan's role as an international tourism consumption center, according to the person in charge of China Duty Free Group. (Edited by Yang Linlin, 15036033666@163.com)