A subsidiary of China International Travel Service will spend CNY12.9 billion (USD1.9 billion) to build the world's largest duty-free center in China's southern Hainan province, taking advantage of the island's tax-free benefits for mainland tourists.
CITS Investment and Development aims to develop the 693,000 square-meter duty-free commercial, tourism and shopping complex between the Northern Hainan Economic Zone and the Western Coastal Cities' Sub-Center, it said in a statement yesterday. The new district will comprise apartment blocks, office buildings, a five-star hotel and shopping streets.
The duty-free industry in China's southern-most province is booming thanks to policies that allow each visitor to buy CNY30,000 (USD4,358) worth of tax-free goods a year. In the first half, Hainan's four duty-free shops had CNY6.6 billion in revenue, a 26.5 percent annual increase.
The compound growth rate for Hainan's duty-free sales from 2012 to 2018 was 28 percent, higher than the nationwide 11 percent. Last year, tax-free sales reached CNY10.1 billion, 26 percent of the nation's total.
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