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China to Set up Four More Duty-Free Shops
China will establish four new downtown duty-free shops in eastern coastal cities, according to a government working conference held Thursday, December 28, in Harbin, capital city of northeast China's Heilongjiang province.
Approved by the State Council, the four duty-free shops will be built in the next three years in the urban areas of Shanghai, Dalian, Qingdao, and Xiamen.
China currently has only one such duty-free shop in downtown Beijing which opened in 1990.
The shops, while under the supervision of customs, will mainly offer duty-free goods for overseas tourists.
Gai Zhixin, general manager of China Duty-Free Goods Group Company said that duty-free shops are the result of booming tourism in the country. He said that China does have many duty- free shops built at international ports, but tourists do not have enough time to shop as they enter and leave the ports.
The China Duty-Free Goods Group Company will cooperate with reputable local dealers in building the new inner city duty-free shops. The shop in Shanghai will open to public in March of 2001.
Duty-free shops first appeared in China in 1979. China now has about 150 such shops scattering in about 90 port cities and 24 provinces.
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