CHINA. More “˜domestic duty free’ stores are likely to be opened on the resort island of Hainan, according to a well-sourced report in China Daily.
As reported, regulations were introduced last year allowing the creation of domestic duty free shopping. In April 2011, China Duty Free Group opened the first such store, in Sanya Bay, with extraordinary early success.
In December Hainan Provincial Duty Free Co. Ltd opened a 2,200sq m duty free operation at Haikou Meilan International Airport, with exclusive supply being provided by DFS.
The initial allowance was RMB5,000 (US$760), though each customer can buy one extra product whose unit price is more than RMB5,000 after a certain amount of import duty is paid.
As the anniversary of the opening of the first store (20 April) approaches, officials told China Daily that more stores are in the pipeline and, highly significantly for retailers, the current limit on purchases is likely to be lifted.
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How China Daily reported the story |
The newspaper quoted Wang Wei, Director of the Department of Social Development for the National Development and Reform Commission.”The policy has just been carried out for one year. The rebate cap will definitely be increased in the long run, but it takes time to do the assessment,” Wang said, while attending the prestigious Boao Forum for Asia 2012.
Tan Li, Vice-Governor of Hainan province, described the domestic duty free policy as “the most valuable and influential part” of the government’s preferential policies to boost Hainan as an international tourism island, the report said.
He told a news conference that duty free sales at the two stores have reached RMB1.6 billion (US$255 million).
Tan noted that the introduction of a visa-free entry policy has boosted tourism in Hainan significantly. Tourist groups from 26 countries can enjoy visa-free access to Hainan. Those countries include high-spending nationals such as Koreans, Russians and Scandinavians.
LI AN TO GET DUTY FREE SHOPPING MALL
China Daily also reported that Tan launched an ambitious ten-year plan for Li An, a small town in the south east of Hainan.
“The plan includes the construction of a large duty-free shopping mall, a sea world, private museums and cultural industries,” it said.
As a pilot zone, Li An will benefit from a host of trial policies for duty free shopping, sport lotteries, forest tourism and offshore finance, Tan said.
As revealed by The Moodie Report, at the Gate One2One conference in Singapore in 2011, CDFG unveiled plans for the world’s largest duty free complex at Haitang Bay in Sanya on Hainan.
Haitang Bay Duty Free Complex will offer 350,000sq m of total space, including 150,000sq m dedicated to commercial services. The duty free stores, to be built in two phases, will cover 100,000sq m. Phase one will open in two to three years.
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(Above) Video coverage of China Duty Free Group’s extraordinary Haitang Bay project; (Below) An introduction to the phenomenal new world of domestic duty free shopping on Hainan Island |
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