Tourists visit an exhibition at the Qilou ancient street during the Spring Festival holiday in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, Jan. 27, 2023. Photo: Xinhua

With consumers rushing to South China's Hainan Province during the Spring Festival holidays, sales at duty-free stores in the popular tourist destination reached a new high of 2.57 billion yuan ($379 million), up 329 percent from the same period in 2019, official data showed on Sunday. 

Consumption rebounded quickly in Hainan during the holiday, which ran from January 21 to 27, with the province's 12 offshore duty-free shops seeing sales of more than 350 million yuan per day, according to statistics from the Department of Commerce of Hainan.

A salesperson surnamed Wu at the Haikou duty-free shopping complex told the Global Times on Sunday that consumers waited on long lines to pay at many stores during the holidays, which is "extremely encouraging for industry practitioners."

The Haikou duty-free shopping complex, which opened in October 2022, is the world's largest stand-alone duty-free shop. 

"Perfume, cosmetics, skin care products and bags were the best sellers. Winter is always a peak tourist season for Hainan. Together with the Spring Festival holidays, our sales skyrocketed," said Wu, adding that he did not have a rest during the holidays because of the crowds of customers.

Wu was among about 2,000 workers at the Haikou complex who stayed on the job during the holidays to serve consumers.

More than 270,000 people visited the shopping complex during the Spring Festival holidays, which means nearly 40,000 people every day, according to the China Duty Free Group, which built the complex.

Shopping was just one side of the consumption comeback in Hainan. The island received 6.39 million tourists during this year's Spring Festival holidays, up 18.2 percent year-on-year. Tourism revenue reached 9.298 billion yuan, up 23.5 percent year-on-year, according to data from the Culture and Tourism Department of Hainan.

During the Spring Festival holidays, 6,683 flights landed or took off at Hainan's three airports. Passenger throughput stood at 1.092 million, which recovered to 90.9 percent of the 2019 level, official data showed.

Meanwhile, new consumption scenarios emerged. Niche activities such as surfing, sailing, yachting and diving were popular, and leisure and health consumption such as massages and tea tasting was favored. 

The catering industry in Hainan also picked up. Official data showed that the province's Chinese New Year's Eve dinner bookings rose 26 percent from 2022, and operating revenues of restaurants soared 35 percent year-on-year.

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