Tourists pick up cosmetics at the CNSC Sanya International Duty Free Plaza. [Photo/Sanya Daily]
This year marks the 12th anniversary of Hainan's offshore duty-free shopping policy. Sanya's accumulated offshore duty-free sales have achieved over 100 billion yuan ($14.5 billion), with the annual sales up 30 times compared with the sales from 2011.
From April 2011 to February 2023, Sanya Customs has facilitated over 18.89 million offshore duty-free consumers, with a sales amount of 126.55 billion yuan.
In 2011, Sanya Customs oversaw 390,000 offshore duty-free consumers, with a sales amount of 790 million yuan. While in 2022, Sanya Customs supervised 2.4 million offshore duty-free consumers, with a sales amount of 24.2 billion yuan.
Over the past 12 years, Hainan's offshore duty-free shopping policy has undergone multiple adjustments. In July 2020, Hainan's offshore duty-free shopping policies underwent their largest adjustment, with the duty-free limit increased to 100,000 yuan and the number of product categories increased from 18 to 45.
"Our operating area has increased nearly tenfold, and the number of brands has increased to over 750. The Sanya International Duty Free Complex has developed from a small store to one of the world's largest duty-free stores", said the relevant person in charge of the Sanya Duty Free Complex.
In 2020, the store's sales exceeded 20 billion yuan. In 2022, the Sanya International Duty Free Complex's accumulated offshore duty-free sales exceeded 100 billion yuan, becoming the first duty-free store in Hainan with sales exceeding 100 billion yuan.
In December 2020, Sanya opened three new offshore duty-free stores, namely the Hainan Tourism Duty Free (HTDF) Shopping Complex Sanya, China Duty Free Group's (CDFG) Sanya Phoenix International Airport Duty Free Store, and the Sanya International Duty Free Plaza, by China National Service Corporation (CNSC).
In recent years, with the booming development of the Hainan Free Trade Port, high-end shopping and commercial complexes such as Pacific Place Mall, MixC Shopping Mall, and Shin Kong Place have also targeted Haitang Bay, competing for Sanya's duty-free market.
At the same time, the competition among duty-free stores is becoming increasingly fierce. This has driven the upgrading of tourism consumption and enhanced personalized tourism experiences through differentiated operation methods, such as holding consumption activities and attracting flagship stores of famous brands.
