Duty-free items expanded in bid to attract more domestic buyers

A broader range of imported items is now available at duty-free shops in Hainan province.

The variety of such items was increased on March 20 in a bid to promote the island province as an international tourist destination. Seventeen additional kinds of products, including baby formula, coffee, healthcare supplements and air purifiers, have been added to the duty-free program, bringing the total to 38.

Authorities have also loosened the quotas on purchases of 10 popular goods, including cosmetics, perfumes and watches.

The province has two duty-free shops - the Haitang Bay Duty-free Shopping Center in Sanya and the duty-free shop in the Haikou Meilan International Airport.

By 3 pm on March 20, daily sales at the shops reached 8.59 million yuan ($1.38 million), up 6.72 percent from the previous day.

The offshore duty-free program was launched in April 2011 on a trial basis. After a revision to the program in November 2012, it now allows individual tourists and Hainan residents aged 16 or above to enjoy exemptions on certain imported goods worth no more than 8,000 yuan in total before flying to destinations on the Chinese mainland.

Hainan residents can only shop at the province's duty-free stores once a year, while others can purchase items twice each year, according to the program.

By December 2014, more than 4.08 million people had spent a total of 10.9 billion yuan at the shops since the launch of the program, according to the Hainan provincial department of finance.

Liu Deqian, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' tourism research center, said the changes will make Hainan more attractive to visitors and help to further boost its tourism industry.

He said he hopes that more Chinese cities adopt the duty drawback and duty-free policies so people can buy high-quality products at reasonable prices at home rather than go on shopping sprees overseas.

Wang Huiping, deputy director of the Hainan provincial department of finance, said: "The changes will help attract more tourists and stimulate their consumption."

However, tourist consumption in Hainan still lags behind that of some overseas resorts, including Jeju Island in South Korea, Wang said.

Passengers who purchase duty-free goods in Hainan account for less than 10 percent of the departing passengers, compared to 30 percent on Jeju Island, Wang said.

The addition of new products to the program and further relaxation of the policy will further stimulate people's demand for consumption, he added.

(China Daily 03/26/2015 page12)