China's southernmost province of Hainan announced Monday that it will roll out duty free shopping on the island on Wednesday. The move is an expansion of a pilot program launched in the city of Sanya this April. The move is expected to give the local retail industry a big boost.

The new duty-free store in Haikou Meilan airport will open on Wednesday. Passengers can go shopping here after passing security check and before boarding. It covers an area of 2 thousand square meters.

Liu Junchun, vice president of Hainan Airline Group said: "We are offering nearly 300 thousand different kinds of products, which is in line with the 18 duty-free catalogues from the General Administration of Customs."

Customers choose cosmetics at a cosmetics counter in a duty-free store, in Sanya,
south China's Hainan Province, April 30, 2011. Lots of tourists crowed into the duty
-free store on Saturday, the first day of the three-day May Day holiday. Over 60,000
tourists were expected to visit the duty-free store during the May Day holiday.
(Xinhua/Hou Jiansen)

Most of the items for sale are under 5000 yuan, which is the duty-free quota for each tourist.

Since the pilot program kicked off in April in Sanya city, travelers are flooding into duty-free shopping malls, especially mainland shoppers, now being able to purchase luxury imported goods at competitive prices without embarking on long trips abroad.

The Duty-free shop in Sanya has achieved 800 million yuan in sales from April to the end of November, much better than expectations. The business has become so hot that the shopping mall has to take measures to limit traveler flow in order to ensure a quality shopping experience. The province aims to expand the program to capitalize on such a big demand.

Source:cntv.cn