Sanya International Duty-Free City Shines in Hainan Free Trade Port’s First Year of Closure
This year marks the start of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan, the first full year of the closure operation of Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP), and the 15th anniversary of the implementation of Hainan’s offshore duty-free policy. Over the past 15 years, Sanya International Duty-Free City has continuously innovated consumption scenarios, optimized consumer experiences and enhanced operational capabilities, making remarkable contributions to the construction of Hainan International Tourism Consumption Center. Securities Daily reported that the duty-free city has contributed a total sales volume of over 186 billion yuan and received more than 85.4 million tourists since its opening.
As the first 4A-level scenic spot in China centered on duty-free commerce, Sanya International Duty-Free City has systematically improved its management and services under the principle of "integrity operation and high-quality service". Seizing the dividends brought by the closure of Hainan FTP since 2025, the city has accelerated its transformation and iteration, achieving steady growth in operating performance with a new service standard and capability model. It successfully completed its annual target in 2025 and has maintained a year-on-year growth rate of 32% since the start of 2026. Currently, it holds more than 70% of the local duty-free market share, serving as a key engine driving local economic development.
To adapt to the changing consumption trends, the duty-free city has actively explored new growth drivers. It has seized the opportunities of the new offshore duty-free policies to add and optimize product categories as well as domestic tax-refundable goods. It has vigorously developed the first-launch economy by introducing new brands through first launches, debuts and flagship stores, and responded to the national tide going global strategy by bringing in high-quality domestic brands. Leveraging government consumption coupons and national subsidies to boost sales, its electronic product sales have become the largest category in the store.
The 2026 Year of the Horse Spring Festival, the first Spring Festival holiday since the closure of Hainan FTP and a key test at the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan, witnessed a record-high sales volume for Sanya International Duty-Free City since its opening, with a peak daily passenger flow of 92,000, breaking the store’s previous record. Securities Daily noted that during the holiday, the city launched folk custom experiences and cultural consumption scenarios, added lighting art installations and intangible cultural heritage exhibitions, and innovatively created an immersive "shopping + scenery appreciation + cultural experience" model, allowing consumers to fully feel the Spring Festival atmosphere.
Lin Mei, General Manager of Sanya International Duty-Free City, said the city will closely follow Hainan Province’s requirements on upgrading duty-free shopping, fostering new digital consumption and building Sanya into the core area of the international tourism consumption center. "We will promote the intelligent transformation of all stores systematically, empower the improvement of operation and services with technological innovation, and steadily advance digital construction," she added.
On the customer side, the city will continuously upgrade the functions of its one-stop mini-program, improve integrated services such as consumption, rights and inquiries, and explore AI application scenarios to create unique consumer experiences. On the business side, it will make full use of digital tools to optimize the entire business process of warehousing, allocation, sales and settlement, break data barriers between systems, and achieve data interconnection and business collaboration to comprehensively improve quality and efficiency.
