Shoppers visiting China's island province of Hainan spent a record 2.49 billion yuan ($346.2 million) on duty-free goods over the eight-day Lunar New Year holiday, data from Haikou Customs showed.

That represents a year-on-year rise of 60%, with the number of shoppers from Feb. 10-17 reaching more than 297,000, each spending an average of 8,358 yuan on duty-free goods.

Since 2020, when China tripled duty-free purchase limits in the 12 duty-free malls in Hainan to 100,000 yuan, overall duty-free spending has also tripled from about $2 billion in 2019 to more than $6.1 billion in 2023. That growth is expected to continue as the entire island is set to become duty-free in 2025.

Even a year after Chinese borders re-opened, the lure of duty-free shopping in Hainan, an island about the size of Belgium, remains strong as flight restrictions, visa delays and the high cost of travel to far-flung international destinations have kept many Chinese travelers.

Editor Ⅰ: Zhang Wenwen

Editor Ⅱ: Wu Dan

Editor Ⅲ: Liu Guosong