HAIKOU /China/, April 24. /TASS/. Total sales in duty-free stores in the southern Chinese province of Hainan reached 185 billion yuan ($26.8 billion) in the 12 years since the start of the program. Haikou City Customs Service published this data in the Hainan Daily newspaper.
More than 34.2 million customers visited the duty-free stores on the island over this period. The last 12 years the authorities have repeatedly adjusted the policy of duty-free stores. In particular, the quota per capita for purchases in such stores has increased from the original 5 thousand yuan to 100 thousand yuan (from $724.6 to $14.2 thousand). The list of duty-free items has also been expanded from 18 to 45 items.
Hainan authorities have launched a pilot program to create a developed duty-free network in April 2011. There are duty-free stores on the island in the provincial capital 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 Wanning. In total, there are currently 12 such stores on the island.
In 2022, the volume of duty-free sales in Hainan amounted to 48.71 billion yuan ($7.2 billion). In 2021 the figure exceeded 60 billion yuan (about $ 8.9 billion). This year, the island's authorities expect to reach the sales volume of 80 billion yuan ($ 11.9 billion).