WILL HAINAN OVERCOME HONG KONG FOR SHOPPING?
Unable to travel to Europe, the United States or Hong Kong since the start of the year due to the Covid-19 epidemic, shopaholics have set their sights on Hainan, this island as large as Belgium and Luxembourg, elected new eldorado of good business! An hour’s flight away, it is especially Hong Kong, which pay the bill for its noisy and sometimes violent protests. Chinese tourists have made their choice. In the not-so-distant future, Europeans are expected to follow.
With its line of luxury hotels, Haitang Bay is one of the 5 gems of southern Hainan Island, some 3,000 kilometers south of Beijing. But the tropical nonchalance of this seaside resort has given way to a shopping spree. It is, in fact, in Sanya that the last part of what is now the largest duty free in the world has just opened: 120,000 square meters of luxury shops where watches, bags and jewelry sell for 20%. cheaper than on the mainland!
A GROWING DUTY FREE SHOPPING
Since July 1, 2020, Hainan has raised its annual quota for duty-free purchases from 30,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan (3,800 to 12,645 euros) per person. The duty free product categories have been reduced from 38 to 45, with the addition of electronic products such as smartphones and laptops to the list of duty free products.
In addition, the old tax exemption limit of 8,000 yuan (1,011 euros) for a single product has been lifted, and the number of categories including a single purchase quantity limit has been significantly reduced. The tax-free purchase limit for cosmetics has also been increased from 12 to 30.
Official figures show Hainan duty-free sales topped 8.6 billion yuan (1.06 billion euros) from July 1 to September 30, 2020, an increase of 227.5 percent year-on-year. ‘other, cosmetics sales coming first. Almost 1.29 million customers purchased duty-free products during the period, up 62% year-over-year.
4 offshore duty free shops are currently operating in Hainan, 2 in Haikou (capital), one in Qionghai and one in Sanya, the latter being the largest, with an area of nearly 120,000 m2.
At the same time, in an effort to improve duty-free activities, the provincial government recently authorized 2 companies on the island to develop offshore activities.
Hainan is also expected to build 3 more duty-free shops in Sanya this year. To encourage moderate competition, the government will introduce offshore businesses from other provinces.
