HAIKOU /China /, June 1. /TASS/. Revenues of the express delivery industry in China's southern province of Hainan grew 30% year-on-year in January-April and reached 1.3 billion yuan ($185.7 million). China News Service reported this with reference to the provincial postal administration.

According to these figures, Hainan province is among the top three in the country. The average revenue growth rate of express delivery operators is 18 percentage points higher than the average for China. A total of 80 million parcels were handled in the province during the period, an increase of 48%.

According to these figures, Hainan province is among the top three in the country. The average revenue growth rate of express delivery operators is 18 percentage points higher than the average for China. A total of 80 million parcels were handled in the province during the period, an increase of 48%.

Duty-free delivery has also been growing rapidly, becoming the industry's new signature service. According to statistics, from January to April, express delivery companies in Hainan handled about 4.7 million parcels of various duty-free products. Of these, 1.5 million parcels were sent outside of Hainan, an increase of 120% over the same period last year. On an average day, these companies served up to 12,000 customers shopping at duty-free stores.

Hainan authorities 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 of Haikou, at the Sanya resort, 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 total sales of duty-free stores in Hainan was 48.71 billion yuan ($6.9 billion). In 2021 the figure exceeded 60 billion yuan (about $ 8.5 billion). In 2023, the island authorities expect to reach the sales volume of 80 billion yuan ($ 11.4 billion).