Hainan’s Duty-Free Rally Hinges on Wary Chinese Consumers
The Sanya Bay district of Sanya, Hainan, China.
Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg
After two sluggish years, duty-free shopping is snapping back on China’s Hainan island, where domestic tourists are once again crowding malls for luxury handbags, gold jewelry and skincare.
Once a niche destination, Hainan has become a major shopping hub for Chinese travelers, pulling in spending that once flowed to Tokyo and Paris and turning the island into a barometer of a broader China consumer recovery.