The testing personnel of Haikou Customs Technology Center carry out experimental treatment on duty-free cosmetics on Dec 15, 2022. (ZHANG MAO / FOR CHINA DAILY)

Hainan province's liberalized offshore duty-free shopping policy, which is part of its ambitious free-trade port development, is attracting growing interest from powerful Chinese online and offline retailers who hope to enter the market. With an aim of boosting the high-quality construction of the Hainan free trade port, an announcement on Hainan's offshore duty-free shopping policy was issued and came into effect on July 1, 2020.

The duty-free policy is expected to boost domestic consumption and help attract overseas consumption. Statistics from Haikou Customs showed that it has supervised a total of 101.7 billion yuan of duty-free sales, or 140 million items, from a total of 13.61 million consumers when they left the island from July in 2020 to December in 2022. Over the past years since the implementation of Hainan's offshore duty-free policy, customs officers have worked together to ensure the offshore duty-free goods enter the county smoothly and safely so that consumers can purchase high quality duty-free goods.

Engineer Liang Heming receives the duty-free goods for inspection, on Nov 14, 2022. (ZHANG MAO / FOR CHINA DAILY)

Customs staffers conduct inspections on duty-free goods and check the product information, on Nov 7, 2022. (ZHANG MAO / FOR CHINA DAILY)

Inspectors take samples of duty-free cosmetics and carry out testing and analysis, on Nov 14, 2022. (ZHANG MAO / FOR CHINA DAILY)

A senior engineer Pang Shunan takes out the duty-free cosmetics samples and carries out the element analysis on Nov 14, 2022. (ZHANG MAO / FOR CHINA DAILY)

Customers pick up commodities at Haikou International Duty Free City in Haikou, Hainan province, on Oct 28, 2022. (ZHANG MAO / FOR CHINA DAILY)

The world's largest single duty-free shop Haikou International Duty Free City attracts many consumers to wait in line for duty-free goods, on Oct 28, 2022. (ZHANG MAO / FOR CHINA DAILY)

The ship carrying the duty-free goods enters the port, and is released after being inspected on Jan 13, 2023. (ZHANG MAO / FOR CHINA DAILY)