A view of the Haikou duty-free shopping complex in South China's Hainan Province on October 28, 2022. The complex, also the world's largest stand-alone duty-free shop with a total building area of 280,000 square meters, opens the same day. The complex features more than 800 brands. Photo: cnsphoto

The Haikou duty-free shopping complex in South China's Hainan Province, the world's largest stand-alone duty-free shop, opened on Friday, another signature project added to the construction of the Hainan Free Trade Zone which will help further boost consumption and promote high-level opening-up. 

The complex was constructed by China Duty Free Group (CDFG), and is located on the west coast of Haikou next to the Xinhai port, a major transportation hub, with a total building area of 280,000 square meters, Wang Xuan, deputy general manager of CDFG, said at a press briefing on October 14. The complex features more than 800 brands, according to local newspaper Hainan Ribao on Friday. 

The opening of the Haikou complex will be an important event in turning Hainan into an international tourism island, constructing the Hainan Free Trade Port and pursuing high-level opening-up according to media reports, citing Hua Xiaodong from the publicity department of Hainan.

The complex will better meet domestic demand for overseas products by offering greater convenience, while further outlining the tourism industry as a key supporting sector for local economic development, Cong Yi, dean of the School of Marxism at Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on Friday. 

As for how the opening will further promote the nation's dual circulation - a new economic development pattern that emphasizes taking the domestic market as the mainstay while letting internal and external markets boost each other - Cong noted that it will be based on meeting domestic consumption needs while connecting with the international market in accordance with actual conditions. 

Hainan has been stepping up efforts to boost local consumption, especially as the travel peak season approaches. The local authority started distributing a total of 53 million yuan ($7.31 million) worth of vouchers on Thursday, which will be valid until December 31. Consumers can use the vouchers for duty-free shopping, according to the provincial government's official WeChat account on Tuesday.

At the same time, Haikou Customs has been implementing measures to effectively ensure the opening of the Haikou duty-free complex, such as setting up a one-stop channel to speed up the inspection and release of 120,000 types products, or three million items, according to Hainan Ribao.  

Cong said that the operation of local customs in Hainan plays an indispensable role in the construction of the free- trade port, and the innovative operating model can effectively connect the internal and external markets, which can be adopted by other provinces and cities with the same development pattern such as the Hainan Free Trade Zone. 

Statistics from Haikou Customs showed that it has supervised a total of 96.6 billion yuan of duty-free sales, or 133 million items, from a total of 13.07 million consumers when they left the island from July 1, 2020 to September 30, 2022, according to Hainan Ribao.