This aerial photo taken on April 4, 2023 shows the Haikou International Duty-Free Shopping Complex in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province. [Photo/Xinhua]

During the Spring Festival holiday spanning from Jan 28 through Tuesday, Haikou Customs recorded transactions totaling 2.09 billion yuan ($287 million) in duty-free shopping, with 240,500 travelers departing from Hainan province engaging in duty-free purchases, averaging 8,706 yuan per person, surpassing last year's figure of 8,358 yuan.

Noteworthy was the achievement of 1.44 billion yuan in duty-free sales in Sanya. From Saturday to Tuesday, duty-free sales in the city exceeded 200 million yuan for four consecutive days. As of Wednesday, duty-free sales in Sanya had risen by 18.1 percent year-on-year, with shopping and foot traffic increasing by 21.9 percent and 13.8 percent, respectively, setting a new high.

"There are many more brands than the last time I visited, and the products are very comprehensive. I also used government consumption vouchers," said a tourist surnamed Zhang from Beijing, at Sanya International Duty Free City on Tuesday, as she took advantage of her vacation to buy the coat and skincare products she had been eyeing.

Throughout this year's Spring Festival holiday, the diverse tourism resources across Hainan attracted visitors from outside the island, propelling duty-free consumption.

Sanya International Duty Free City organized a range of events that capitalized on this momentum by blending intangible cultural heritage with duty-free offerings. "We established five major intangible cultural heritage experiential zones featuring calligraphy, sugar painting, lacquer fans, rubbings and paper-cutting, which were warmly received by tourists, especially families," said Fu Bing, the mall's event planner.

Collaborating with over 900 brands and offering 45 major duty-free product categories, Sanya International Duty Free City introduced promotions like gifts with purchases, multiple membership reward points and exclusive Chinese New Year Zodiac products for the Year of the Snake, complemented by government consumption vouchers and subsidies for digital product purchases.

To attract consumers, Sanya and Haikou distributed over 67 million yuan in offshore duty-free shopping vouchers, which can be stacked with in-store discounts.

At Global Premium Duty Free Plaza in Haikou, products are available starting from a minimum of 70 percent off. Liu Jia, assistant to general manager of the plaza, said that foot traffic increased by around 55 percent compared to the eight days prior to the Spring Festival holiday, leading to a significant boost in sales performance and marking a prosperous start of the year in terms of sales.

A salesperson from a fragrance and cosmetics brand at Haikou International Duty-Free City said that all items are discounted to a minimum of 20 percent off for every three items purchased. A tourist surnamed Chen from Guangdong province bought a bottle of concentrated repair essence, saying, "The original price was 3,920 yuan. After the discount, it was only 2,548 yuan. Such a good deal."

At the Haikou Xinhai Ro-Ro Passenger Terminal hub, adjacent to Haikou International Duty Free City, a steady stream of tourists queue at the port channel's off-island duty-free pickup point.

"We have dispatched personnel to duty-free shopping malls to promote and educate on offshore duty-free policies and shopping procedures, fully supporting duty-free sales," said Wang Yang, head of the duty-free product supervision department at Haikou Port Customs.

Huang Jing, deputy head of the duty-free supervision department at Sanya Customs, said, "To address difficulties faced by travelers due to changes in off-island information for pickup and verification, we have developed a passenger rebooking information comparison system and an off-island duty-free verification application mini-program, enabling passengers to self-enter rebooking information, providing convenience to many travelers."

Guo Jianmeng, director of the port supervision division of Haikou Customs, emphasized the commitment to exploring innovative pathways for intelligent supervision of offshore duty-free in Hainan Free Trade Port, aiming to boost the consumer market's vitality and contribute to the development of offshore duty-free industries, aligning with Hainan's vision of becoming an international tourism consumption center.

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