That has meant that while a rebound in consumption spending has remained sluggish in many parts of the country as the economy struggles to recover, it has started off strong in Hainan after China ended its zero-COVID policy in December: duty free sales on the island rose 20% over this year's seven-day Spring Festival holiday period in January.
And China further plans to elevate its status: by 2025, it plans to make the whole island duty free, essentially expanding the 10% to 40% cheaper prices on goods from beauty, to alcohol and luxury products from 12 existing duty free malls to the entire province. That has made high-end global consumer firms keen to attend the expo as a way of demonstrating their commitment to China, industry executives said.
"Last year here was kind of quiet but this year's expo has been booming," said Amy Imbriaco, general manager of Greater China for luggage and bag maker Tumi. Some 3,300 brands participated this year, versus 2,800 last year, organisers said
Comestic giants such as Japan's Shiseido promoted products with exclusive packaging for the Hainan market while luxury car brands such as Bentley, Porsche and Ferrari showed off shiny high performance vehicles at the venue. In the wine and spirits pavilion, makeshift bars were set up to provide taste tests of whiskey and wine, while Diageo offered soft serve Bailey's-flavoured ice-cream.
"This year in particular we feel like every exhibitor is
presenting new brands and products in order to capture the
opportunity presented by China's consumption recovery," said
Ella Yu, head of corporate communications for Japanese beauty
conglomerate Shiseido in China.
($1 = 6.8677 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Casey Hall; Editing by Kim Coghill)
