World's largest duty-free shop opens in China

BEIJING: China today opened world's largest duty-free shop (DFS), attracting over 300 international brands including Prada and Rolex, in coastal Sanya city in southern Hainan Province.

With a shopping area of 72,000 square metres, the Haitang Bay duty-free shopping centre will replace an existing DFS, which is just one-seventh of the new store's size, in Sanya's downtown.

The centre has attracted nearly 300 international brands. Several brands, including Prada, Rolex and Giorgio Armani, have appeared in a DFS on the Chinese mainland for the first time, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

China International Travel Service Group (CITS) invested 5 billion yuan (about $814 million) in the centre, which is operated by China Duty Free Group.

China's cabinet, gave Hainan permission to run a duty-free programme on a trial basis in April 2011 to promote the island as a world-class international tourist destination by 2020.

From 2011 to 2013, Hainan saw an annual 15 per cent increase in its tourism revenue on average, with offshore duty-free sales accounting for 10 per cent of the total revenue.

Figures from the local customs show that as of mid-August, the revenue in Hainan's two DFS stores exceeded 9.2 billion yuan (about $1.5 billion).