Chinese tour operator group CITS announced on July 4 that its fully-owned subsidiary China Duty Free Group ("China Duty Free") has won the duty-free concession at Beijing Capital Airport for Lot 1. In the meantime, the Lot 2 concession was awarded to Shanghai duty-free operator Sunrise Duty Free.
The eight-year duty free operation bid of the airport started in April. China Duty Free previously had signed an agreement to purchase a 51% stake in Sunrise Duty Free if the latter wins the concession at the Beijing airport.
According to its annual report of 2016, CITS posted RMB 1.808 billion in net profit to attributable to the shareholders of listed company, of which China Duty Free contributed RMB 1.73 billion, accounting for more than 90%.
The number of Chinese outbound tourists reached 122 million in 2016. In 2015, sales volume of the global duty-free market reached nearly RMB 380 billion, up by 16% YoY and nearly doubling that of 2011. The figure exceeded RMB 460 billion in 2016.
Other than the cooperation between China Duty Free and Sunrise Duty Free, Zhuhai Duty Free has also teamed up with HNA Group, whose Hong Kong subsidiary has acquired a 16.79% stake in Dufry Group, the biggest duty-free retailer in the world.
In addition to that, Shenzhen Duty Free has won duty free concession at Xi'an Airport and Shenzhen Airport.
At the end of this year, major duty-free enterprises will vie for the duty-free business at Shanghai Pudong Airport. (Translated by Xenia)
