Offshore duty-free shopping surges in Hainan FTP policy's first week

Hainan's Free Trade Port has witnessed a sharp rise in offshore duty-free shopping one week after launching island-wide customs operations, according to official figures released on Thursday by Haikou Customs.

From Dec 18 to Dec 24, duty-free sales reached 1.1 billion yuan ($157 million), with 775,000 items purchased by 165,000 shoppers. That represents a 54.9 percent increase in sales value compared with the same period last year, alongside strong growth in the number of items sold and shoppers alike.

Compared with the week before the special customs operations took effect, sales rose by more than 71.8 percent, highlighting the positive impact on the island province's consumer market.

The growth follows an expansion of Hainan's duty-free policy a month earlier, which now allows departing international travellers to shop duty-free and widens the range of eligible goods to 47 categories. Selected domestic products, including Chinese tea and ceramics, have also been added.

Hainan's pleasant December tropical weather, combined with the launch of customs operations, has attracted a large number of domestic and international tourists.

China Duty Free Group's Sanya International Duty-Free Shopping Complex reported strong sales after the launch. On the first day, store traffic exceeded 36,000 visitors, an increase of more than 60 percent year-over-year.

Among them was Russian tourist Andrea Ivanova, one of the first international arrivals under Hainan's visa-free policy for tourist groups after the launch. Assisted by a shopping consultant, she purchased Chinese tea and ceramics.

"My family and I come to Sanya every year for the sunshine and beach. This time, we happened to experience the launch of special customs operations, and it feels very different," she said. "My family and friends love Chinese-made goods. Before, shopping in Sanya used to require a separate tax refund process upon departure. Now, we can buy duty-free directly. It's as smooth as the visa-free entry process."

"To provide a better shopping experience for travelers, we have significantly improved the end-to-end efficiency of duty-free goods, from shelving to sales and delivery, through innovations such as the centralized and automatic document review, low-altitude drone delivery, and tiered supervision," said Guo Jianmeng, head of the port supervision department at Haikou Customs.