Hainan offshore duty-free sales reach RMB 8.4 billion
Hainan has seen a surge in offshore duty-free shopping, with total sales revenue of 8.4 billion yuan over the past three years since the policy began on April 20, 2011.
In that period, Hainan saw over 3.16 million shoppers, and 11.51 million items were sold in the province's two offshore duty-free stores, according to data released on Tuesday by Haikou Customs.
Since the offshore duty-free program was put into place in April 2011, the duty-free shops have attracted a great deal of business from visitors, with duty-free sales increasing from 1.84 billion yuan in 2011 to 3.67 billion yuan in 2013. The average daily duty-free sales in the Sanya and Haikou stores have reached 12 million yuan.
Benefitting from the offshore duty-free policy, the island province has seen booming tourism. In 2013, the tourism revenue in Hainan reached 22.996 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.3%.