China’s duty-free shoppers rush to tropical Hainan as Hong Kong and Seoul off travel list
- Sales boom in southern China’s Hainan province attributed to suspension of international travel amid coronavirus pandemic
- Total revenue from sales of duty-free goods across southernmost island province is expected to reach 30 billion yuan this year
Chinese tourists who traditionally rush to duty-free outlets in South Korea or Hong Kong for holiday shopping are being lured to southern China’s island province of Hainan this year as the coronavirus continues ravaging most of the world.
Long queues are a common sight at shopping malls such as the Haitang Bay Duty Free Shopping Complex in Sanya city, photos and videos posted on social media show. For the first five days of the eight-day “golden week” holiday that lasts from October 1-8 this year, the tropical island saw revenue of 530 million yuan (US$78 million) on duty-free goods, a year-on-year increase of 136.9 per cent, China’s state television reported on Wednesday.
This year’s National Day holiday overlaps with the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is traditionally a time for family reunions, extending the break to eight days from the usual seven.
Gao Yan, the deputy manager of a duty-free store, told Hainan’s official radio broadcaster that the sales boom during the holiday week was due to the suspension of international travel, which has increased visits to Sanya by tourists who are traditionally fans of tropical climates and duty-free shopping.
About 155 million Chinese travelled abroad in 2019 – up 3.3 per cent from the previous year, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. During the seven-day golden week holiday last year, 7 million Chinese tourists travelled abroad. In 2018, Chinese tourists spent US$277 billion overseas, beating the United States and Germany combined.