Hainan duty-free sales hit 3.7 billion yuan in January

Shoppers browse cosmetics at a duty-free store in Sanya. [Photo by Zuo Jianan/chinadaily.com.cn] 　

The total sales of the nine offshore duty-free shops in Hainan province totaled 4.05 billion yuan ($630 million) last month, a year-on-year increase of 168 percent. Of this, tax-free sales totaled 3.7 billion yuan, up 159 percent compared with the same period last year, according to Hainan Provincial Department of Commerce.

The number of duty-free shoppers reached 701,000, a year-on-year increase of 71 percent, and nearly 3.7 million duty-free items were sold in January, up by 101 percent year-on-year. 

On Dec 28, 2020, the State Council, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, the General Administration of Customs, and the State Administration of Taxation approved the establishment of six new duty-free shops in Hainan.

In the future, Hainan will guide its duty-free shops to increase investment and procurement, enrich their products on sale, strengthen personnel training, improve their information systems and increase their sales promotions. The province will also strive to achieve synchronization with the wider world, and continue to improve shopping experiences in order to lure more high-end consumption - which was previously planned to be made overseas - to Hainan.