China Tourism Duty Free Corporation, the parent company of China Duty Free Group (CDFG) saw a 24% increase in revenue last year, driven by swells in both domestic and international tourism, to his RMB67.5bn ($9.3bn)

The figures mark a significant increase on the RMB54.4bn recorded in 2022, but stay slightly short of the company’s record revenue figures of RMB67.7bn from 2021. Gross profit for the period was also up to RMB20.85bn from RMB14.86bn in 2022. The last reported data put CDFG top of the rankings for global travel retailers in the 2023 DFNI Database.

Duty-free sales accounted for RMB44.2bn in sales for CDFG during 2023, up 69.9% on the previous year, while duty-paid sales dropped 20.1% to RMB22.3bn.

Hainan was a driver of sales for CDFG in 2023

It comes against a backdrop of rapid recovery for tourism in China, according to the company, with domestic travel in the country up 93.3% in 2023 to 4.89 billion travellers. Of these, 3.76 billion came from urban areas, a 94.9% increase on 2022. International entries and exits during the period amounted to 424 million, according to the National Immigration Administration, up 266.5% year-on-year, and reaching 63% of the levels seen in 2019. 206 million of the travellers accounted for were from Mainland China, while 183 million came from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Meanwhile, the 35.5 million foreign international travellers marks a 693.1% increase year-on-year, but still sits at just 36% of pre-pandemic levels.

Hainan remains a key market for CDFG and was a driver of the company’s success, with visitor numbers rising 49.9% year-on-year to 90 million, while tourist revenue was up 71.9% to RMB181.3bn.

During the year, CDFG increased and enhanced its position, especially within the Chinese duty-free market, with the opening of Zone C at the Sanya International Duty Free complex, along with tender wins for duty-free stores in Tianjin Binhai and Zhoushuizi international airports, three port stores in Yunnan and duty-paid operations at four airports including Shanghai Pudong and Shanghai Hongqiao international airports.

Reflecting on the results, China Tourism Group Duty Free Corporation Chairman of the Board of Directors Xuan Wang said: “In 2023, in the face of a complex and ever-changing market environment, the Company propelled under pressure, focused on our main tasks of stabilizing growth, optimizing structure, improving quality and efficiency, controlling risks, and strengthening party building, and solidly carried out reform and innovation and management improvement, achieving steady improvement of quality and efficiency.”

(China Tourism Group is the member of IMTA)

Editor Ⅰ: Zhang Wenwen

Editor Ⅱ: Wu Dan

Editor Ⅲ: Liu Guosong