What: The travel retail hotspot in the world is now Hainan.

Why it is important: Now that Chinese customers are accustomed to shop at home with a generous duty free cap, questions about their return in the international circuit are raised, all the more that we still lack visibility about the reopening of the borders.

Due to the international tourism disruption related to the Covid-19 pandemic, Chinese customers have been enticed to shop at home, which helped Hainan soar as a popular destination and a hotspot for travel retail. As a consequence, the revenue increased +84% in 2021 to reach $9,47bn, knowing that the business already posted a +83% increase in 2020.

This represents a traffic of 9,67m customers, all allowed to spend up to $15,500 free of duty, which is the most generous offshore duty-free spending cap in the world. The market in Hainan is dominated by China Duty Free Group, CNSC, Hainan Tourism Investment Duty Free Co, Hainan Development Holdings and Shenzhen Duty Free.

China's Hainan Duty Free revenue hits 9,47 bn USD in 2021