HAIKOU /China/, Oct. 28. /TASS/. The world's largest duty-free shopping complex opened on Friday in Haikou, the administrative center of the southern Chinese province of Hainan. This was reported by the New Hainan information portal.

The total area of the complex was 926 thousand square meters. It is located near the port of Xinhai - a key transport hub of the city - on the banks of the Qiongzhou Strait, also called the Hainan Strait, close to the ferry that connects the island with the mainland. The facility includes a shopping mall, offices, hotels and residential complexes.

The area of the shopping mall is 280 thousand square meters. It will feature at least 800 well-known Chinese and foreign brands, 25 of them will be presented in Hainan for the first time.

China Duty Free Group Company is the operator of the facility.

Brands on display

Brand names such as YSL, Prada, Burberry, Bottega Veneta, Moncler, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen and Christian Louboutin will open their first stores. On a separate floor of 30,000 square meters the leading manufacturers of beauty products will offer their products, including Chanel, Dior, Estee Lauder, La Mer, Cle de Peau Beaute, Santa Maria Novella, Sulwhasoo, Laneige, Hera and others.

The producers of elite alcohol will include Remy Martin, Martell, Camus, Courvoisier, Diageo Whisky Boutique.

Besides, more than 50 world brands of watches and jewelry will be represented in the mall. Among them are Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Vacheron Constantin, Omega and Chopard. As the newspaper notes, stores of about 10 of them will be exclusively presented only in this shopping mall.

Vouchers

Exclusively for the mall's opening, consumer coupons worth a total of 4 million yuan (about $557,900) for duty-free products, as well as retail consumer vouchers for food worth 1 million yuan (about $139,500) will be issued from October 27 to November 1.

The mall has become Hainan's 11th duty-free center. In January 2023, Wangfujing Group, one of China's largest retail groups, is scheduled to open a store. It will be located in the city of Wanning.

History of the program

The Hainan authorities launched a pilot program to create a developed duty free network in 2011. After the opening of the two new duty free stores on the island there will be 12 of them in total. They are located in the administrative center of the province - the city of Haikou, the resort of Sanya, as well as in the coastal town of Boao in the Qionghai district in the northeast of Hainan and in Wenning.

Since July 1, 2020, provincial authorities have raised the quota per capita for purchases at the province's duty-free stores from 30,000 to 100,000 yuan (from $4,200 to $14,200). The list of duty-free goods was expanded from 38 to 45 items. Since February 2 last year Hainan also launched a delivery service of duty-free goods to the customer's destination by mail for those leaving the island.

In 2021, the volume of Hainan's duty free sales exceeded 60 billion yuan (about $ 8.5 billion), having increased by 84% year on year. This year, the island's authorities expect to bring that figure to 100 billion yuan ($14.2 billion).