Spring Festival sees duty-free shopping spree in Hainan

Duty-free shops in Hainan province have become "scenic spots" many holiday travelers cannot miss, according to local reports.

Visitors to the resort island province enjoyed a tax-free shopping spree the first four days of the Spring Festival, starting Feb 12, with shopping visits to Hainan's nine duty-free shops totaling 97,900.

Cumulative business volume hit more than 729 million yuan ($112 million). Single-day sales at duty-free shops in Hainan exceeded 280 million yuan on Feb 14, according to data from the Hainan provincial commercial authority.

During the same period last year, Hainan's duty-free shops sold goods worth only 16 million yuan due to COVID-19, Haikou Daily reported on Tuesday.

Serial promotions such as lottery draws and generous discounts of some brand cosmetics and perfumes further spurred customer enthusiasm, said Sun Lili, a manager of a duty-free shop in downtown Haikou.

She said a new "mail and delivery" shopping service jointly introduced by the Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs and the State Administration of Taxation on Feb 2 makes it more convenient for shoppers, as they no longer need to go to designated pick-up areas before departure, nor do they have to worry about buying large items.

Starting July 1, Hainan raised the offshore duty-free shopping quota to 100,000 yuan per person per year from the previous 30,000. Categories of goods were also expanded from 38 to 45, with wine and electronic products added to the duty-free list.

According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs, in 2020 the total sales of offshore duty-free goods in Hainan reached 27.48 billion yuan, an year-on-year increase of 103.7 percent, with the number of individual shopping trips increasing 19.2 percent to 4.48 million.