Sales of Hainan's Sanya duty free stores exceeded $ 5.4 billion over the past year

HAIKOU, July 5. /TASS/. Sales in duty free stores in Hainan's Sanya exceeded 35 billion yuan (more than $ 5.4 billion) in the year since the start of the new duty free program on the island on July 1, according to data published by the local newspaper "Sanya Daily".

Thus, sales of duty free products in Sanya accounted for 74.9% of their total volume province-wide. During this period, more than 60.7 million different types of goods were sold in all duty free stores on Hainan, for a total of 46.8 billion yuan (about $ 7.3 billion) — an increase of 226% in annual terms.

A pilot program for the development of a chain of duty free stores in China's Hainan province was launched by the Chinese government in 2011. Since July, 2020, the provincial authorities have increased the presonal quota for purchases in the province's duty free shops from 30,000 to 100,000 yuan (from $ 4,200 to $ 14,200). The list of duty free goods has also been expanded from 38 to 45 positions. Over the past year, the newspaper writes, three new duty free stores were also opened in Sanya.

This program is seen by the authorities as an important part of Hainan's free trade port project.