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Duty free store at Hainan's Meilan airport to occupy 10,000 square meters

Four duty free shops are currently open on Hainan

HAIKOU, July 12. /TASS/. Hainan plans to open a new duty free zone at Meilan International Airport in Haikou. According to www.hinews.cn, it will occupy an area of 10,000 square meters and become the largest airport duty free complex in the country.

The expansion of the duty free zone will follow completion of the second phase of Meilan's reconstruction. About 33,000 square meters (approximately 11% of the whole area) of the second terminal will be used for commercial purposes, 10,000 square meters will become a new zone for duty free. The terminal's 296,000 square meters space will be commissioned before the end of 2020. Hainan invested at least 17.8 billion yuan (about $ 2.5 billion) in its infrastructure.

In 2019, more than 1.26 million customers visited the Meilan Airport duty free stores, an increase of 9.31% compared to the previous year. The revenue of this duty free store last year accounted for 2.31 billion yuan ($ 330 million), which is by 9.13% more than last year.

Four duty free shops are currently open on Hainan: two of them are located in the provincial capital, Haikou, the rest — in Sanya and the coastal town of Boao. According to the latest data, their sales in May amounted to more than 1.9 billion yuan (about $ 279 million), which is by 141% more compared to the same period last year.

Over the recent years, Hainan's duty free zones have shown solid revenue growth. Thus, in 2018, sales in duty free shops on Hainan reached 10.1 billion yuan (about $ 1.47 billion), which is about 26% of the corresponding national figure. Last year, sales grew by more than 34%, to 13.61 billion yuan ($ 1.97 billion).

On April 20, 2011, the Chinese State Council approved the launch of a pilot program for the development of a chain of duty free shops on Hainan to promote the island as a world-class resort.The customers can purchase perfumes, cosmetics, jewelry, watches, bags, etc. The Chinese government has gradually lifted trade restrictions at local duty free shops. In 2018, the authorities have already increased the maximum amount of purchases in these stores from 16,000 to 30,000 yuan (from $ 2,300 to $ 4,500).

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