Dufry and Hainan Development Holdings (HDH), a fully state-owned company of the Hainan Provincial Government, have signed a strategic cooperation agreement to develop opportunities in Hainan’s travel retail market.

New downtown duty-free shop

The first step of this collaboration will focus on the development of new duty-free operations at the Mova Mall in Haikou, the capital of the island. Mova Mall is a major tourism and shopping destination in the city center of Haikou, featuring a vast leisure offer of shopping, dining and entertainment facilities, as well as over 2,500 luxury hotel rooms in walking distance. The Mova Mall complex welcomed 22 million visitors in 2019 and visitors from mainland China are allowed to buy duty-free items up to an amount of 100.000 RMB (approx. USD 14,000) per year.

The new downtown duty-free shop will span over 38,920 m2 across two buildings of the Mova Mall, in three phases and the first phase is expected to be opening before the Chinese Spring Festival, at the end of February 2021.

Global brands

Dufry will supply a variety of global brands in the new shops and share its global experience in travel retail with HDH.

During the initial phase, the temporary product assortment in the duty-free store will include an offering covering all core categories such as perfume and cosmetics, food and confectionery, wine and spirits, as well as sunglasses and luxury items from global brands and local premium labels.

For the second and third phase, an additional range of top luxury and lifestyle brands has been engaged allowing the offer to reach over 350 brands across all categories once the store is fully completed in the second and third quarters 2021.

For Dufry, the partnership with Hainan Development Holdings represents a new step forward in their growth strategy in Asia. The Swiss-based company has operated travel retail businesses in China since 2008 and manages duty-paid shops at the Shanghai Hongqiao and Chengdu Airports. Dufry’s presence in Greater China also extends to Hong Kong and Macau.

Located off southern China, Hainan island offers numerous sea resorts, leisure and shopping destinations. While restrictions linked to the Covid pandemic have limited travel opportunities for Chinese citizens, the island has been centre stage in the luxury and travel retail world for the past several months.