Hainan sees surging offshore duty-free sales as Chinese Lunar New Year approaches

South China's island province of Hainan has been seeing surging offshore duty-free sales these days as many visitors arrive at the tropical travel destination to do some of their shopping in the run up to the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year.

A customer views a watch in a duty-free shop in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province, Jan. 3, 2022. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

During the three-day 2022 New Year holiday, Hainan reported offshore duty-free shopping sales valued at 600 million yuan (about $94.74 million), up 9.7 percent year-on-year, with about 739,000 items being bought by shoppers. The value of shopping purchases per capita as registered at Hainan’s offshore duty-free shops meanwhile reached a whopping 9,740 yuan, an increase of 12 percent from the same period of 2021.

GDF Plaza in Haikou city, which just celebrated its one-year anniversary on Jan. 15, offers customers various discounts and promotions to boost sales. The plaza has also been decorated for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year, attracting many visitors to take photos at the upscale commercial venue.

In addition, the Sanya International Duty Free Shopping Complex in Sanya city launched online promotional activities on popular social media platforms such as Douyin, Weibo and WeChat, during which celebrities were invited to partake in online livestreaming sessions to promote a variety of commodities.

The reasons driving shoppers to engage in duty-free consumption varies from person to person. A customer from Tai'an city, east China's Shandong Province named Sun Xiaomei revealed that she bought beauty products for herself as a New Year’s gift, saying that she wanted to reward herself for working hard during the past year. Zhao Jiajia, a customer from Shanghai, mainly bought some beauty products and wine, with the latter purchased as New Year gifts for her relatives. Zhao, who has visited Hainan for the first time, found that the commodities sold there had a good price, and she hoped to see more international brands in the duty-free shops in the future to meet the diverse needs of Chinese customers.

The southern Chinese island province has always remained a magnet for shopaholics across the country. Offshore duty-free sales in Hainan exceeded 60.17 billion yuan in 2021, an increase of 84 percent year-on-year, as indicated by Hainan’s provincial department of commerce.