Duty‑free malls in south China's Hainan are reporting a sharp holiday surge, with steep discounts and themed events pulling in tens of thousands of May Day shoppers.
The island’s renewed status as a top domestic travel destination has translated into brisk sales and packed duty‑free halls during the five-day holiday.
Compared with ordinary days, duty‑free malls in Hainan have seen a marked increase in shoppers during this year's holiday. To boost spending enthusiasm, venues staged dance shows and interactive games, while steep discounts kept cosmetics and electronics in strong demand.
"I've been checking out electronics like phones and watches. I asked around at several shops. The discounts are really good, and many items are already selling out," said Liu Xiangjin, a visitor.
"We've launched a number of cross-over activities. For sports enthusiasts, we have a fun run and basketball shooting games. Discounts are as low as 70 percent off, making this May Day holiday a truly 'happy shopping' experience," said Wei Yingying, sales supervisor of Hainan-based Global Duty-Free (GDF) Plaza.
Hainan's offshore duty‑free sales reached 209 million yuan (about 30.6 million U.S. dollars) over May 1‑2, with 34,000 shopping trips averaging 6,129 yuan each, Haikou Customs reported.
That marked year‑on‑year increases of 7.2 percent in sales, 5.9 percent in visitor numbers, and 0.9 percent in per‑capita spending. To meet demand, customs authorities said they are cutting delivery times for duty‑free goods to keep supplies stable during the holiday.
Hainan duty‑free sales surge in May Day holiday
China's development has never been a "threat" to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press conference in Beijing on Friday.
Some Western media and think tanks are peddling so-called "China Shock 2.0," saying that "China is achieving fast development in high-tech sectors such as renewable energy and AI and relies on foreign markets to absorb its overcapacity, thus reducing the market share of developed countries and sending more serious shock waves to the global economy compared with the era of traditional manufacture industry," while there are foreign commentators saying that the "China Shock 2.0" argument ignores the genuine innovation occurring within the Chinese industrial ecosystem and that Chinese export is the exact booster of the global economy that is needed in the turbulent period and more indispensable than ever.
Commenting on that, Lin said: "From the world's factory to the world's market and innovation powerhouse, China's development is achieved through strong performance driven by innovation and brings tangible cooperation opportunities and space to the world. High-quality Chinese products represented by the 'old three' of textiles, furniture and home appliances have stabilized the global industrial and supply chain, lowered the living cost of global consumers and eased the inflationary pressure worldwide. China's green production capacity represented by the 'new three' of electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels has bridged the gap between supply and demand in global green development and bolstered the global energy transition and low-carbon development. Moreover, China's high-tech products represented by the 'new new three' of robots, AI and innovative drugs have broken high-tech barriers and monopoly and enabled people in more countries to access affordable new technologies," said the spokesman.
"Openness and cooperation bring about progress and win-win result. China's development has never been a 'threat' to anyone but the source of growth advancing common development of all countries. What really creates 'shocks' to the world has never been the innovation of Chinese companies and efficiency of Chinese industrial capacity, but protectionist moves of setting up barriers, decoupling and severing industrial and supply chains. China will stay committed to high-standard opening up, defend the multilateral trading system and provide more certainty and new impetus to the world economy with its own steady development," said Lin.
China's development never a threat: FM spokesman
