Duty free stores in Sanya and Haikou have accumulated total sales of RMB13.474 billion (approx: US$2.2 billion) in the past four years since the implementation of the duty free policy for travelers departing from Hainan Island.
The duty free stores in Sanya and Haikou received 4.6749 million shoppers and sold a total of 17.4492 million items from April 20, 2011 to April 20 this year, according to statistics by the Hainan Customs Bureau.
In the past four years, the departure duty free policy has been amended twice to increase the shopping quota, expand the range of duty free goods, ease purchasing limits on popular items and improve the shopping experience for visitors.
Hainan’s departure duty free policy has had positve results and brought rapid growth and increased revenues to the island’s tourism industry, resulting in annual growth rate of around 11% in the tourism industry.(Translation by David)
