World's largest duty-free store to open in Hainan

Haikou International Duty Free City Shopping Complex — the world's largest stand-alone duty-free store — is gearing up to open on Friday.

Located on the west coast of Haikou next to Xinhai port, a key transportation hub, it covers an area of 280,000 square meters. With its slogan "Duty Free, Free Plus", the shopping complex features more than 800 notable brands, including five exclusives, five global firsts and more than 50 stores with the world's latest concept designs, said Meng Li, general manager of the duty-free complex at a news briefing on Tuesday.

"The shopping complex will provide diverse and new tourism and shopping experiences to customers. It is expected to attract overseas consumption to return and contribute to building Hainan into an international tourism consumption center," Meng said.

Hua Xiaodong of the publicity department of Hainan, said the opening of the complex will be an important event in turning Hainan into an international tourism island, constructing the Hainan Free Trade Port and pursuing high-level opening-up.

The sprawling complex also brings local cultural forces to the fore. Art, culture, nature and fantasy can all be seen in its design. For instance, Aura, a distinctive interactive art installation on the ground floor, which was designed by Weta Workshop, a world-leading visual effects company, tells a story "inspired by life in nature, art and beauty of Hainan that are all connected by the life form energy of qi," said Rik Athorne, head of Weta Workshop, referring to the vital life force in Chinese tradition.

"We want to create an amplified version of the beautiful landscape, flora and fauna of the island," Athorne said.

Customers can find the elements of tropical trees, misty mountains, cascading waterfalls, mangrove forests and sandy peninsulas, as well as stunning animals — deer, gibbons, butterflies, fish and peacocks — in this creative art piece.

While the shopping complex strives to attract customers from home and abroad, it is just one zone of the Haikou International Duty Free City project, which comprises about 930,000 sq m. The project has six plots dedicated to duty-free businesses, high-end offices, first-rate hotels and talent communities.

The city block caters to the needs of business travelers, as well as leisure, holiday residence, offices and art exhibitions. China Tourism Group Duty Free Corp said it is committed to building the project into the world's first duty-free commercial, cultural, tourism and leisure destination.