The authorities in the island province of Hainan in southern China have opened what they claim is the world’s largest duty-free shopping area, the Haikou International Duty Free City Shopping Complex.

More than 800 brands have a presence at the complex, which covers an area of more than 250,000 square-metres.

Hainan is China’s smallest province and, in 2020, the central government announced it wanted to transform the entire island into a free-trade zone.

In spite of covid-19 restrictions, this policy has already been successful in attracting high-end consumers to Hainan to benefit from duty-free shopping. In 2021, duty-free shopping accounted for half of Hainan’s total tourism revenue.

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