Hainan Free Trade Port key to modern industrial system (2)

Consumers check out products at a duty-free shop in Haikou in February. [Photo/Xinhua]

The master plan said the Hainan FTP is set to introduce island-wide Customs clearance operations by 2025, as part of broader measures to promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation.

China Tourism Group, the parent company of China Duty Free Group, or CDFG, the country's largest operator of duty-free stores, will put its vast Haikou International Duty Free City project, with a planned construction area of more than 920,000 square meters, into operation in the second half, thanks to favorable government policies to stimulate domestic consumption and support the growth of Hainan FTP.

The central SOE has invested more than 10 billion yuan in the large-scale duty-free and tourism complex building cluster project that features functions of duty-free and dutiable commercial services as well as high-end office and hotel space.

Once operational, the company will have more than 10,000 employees working in Hainan.

The company highly values its business development in the region and is making full use of the geological resource and policy advantages of Hainan FTP, said CDFG President Chen Guoqiang.

To further diversify its business and mitigate the impact brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, CDFG developed new tourism packages in which activities such as surfing, deep-sea fishing and satellite-launch watching are included. Adding the digital platform's contribution, the company had a year-on-year operating revenue growth of 96 percent in the travel business segment in 2021.

Supported by a friendly and fast-growing business environment, Hainan recorded total foreign investment inflows of over $3.52 billion in actual use, up 16.2 percent on a yearly basis in 2021, while 1,936 foreign-funded enterprises were newly established in the province, soaring 92.6 percent year-on-year, according to data released by the provincial commerce department.

By the end of 2021, central SOEs, including China Railway Engineering Corp Ltd, China Huaneng Group Co Ltd and China COSCO Shipping Corp Ltd, have set up more than 500 subsidiaries as well as research and development facilities in Hainan, and their total assets exceeded 650 billion yuan.

Hainan FTP has been making solid efforts to reinforce the strategic functions of the free trade port entrusted by the country, serving as a new services and transportation hub in attracting and allocating global resources, and becoming a key intersection of the dual-circulation growth paradigm, said Wei Xiaoquan, a researcher specializing in regional economic development at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.