Duty-free luxury: Louis Vuitton explores opening its first duty-free shop in Hainan

The renowned luxury brand is considering opening its first duty-free store in China.

Luxury accessories manufacturer Louis Vuitton is contemplating opening its first duty-free store in China. The store is expected to be opened in the fast-growing luxury center, the island of Hainan, writes Reuters. 

LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton) is close to an agreement with China Duty-Free Group to open a duty-free store in Haitang Bay mall in Sanya, China. At present, the company has not issued an official statement on the impending launch of the duty-free store.

In recent years Hainan is becoming the capital for attracting luxury brands due to the inability of hundreds of millions of citizens of the Celestial Empire to travel abroad.  More and more flagship stores of major luxury fashion houses from the U.S. and Europe are opening in Sanya’s shopping malls. 

If Louis Vuitton decides to open, it will be one of the few reputable branded stores worldwide. On September 2021, the company opened its duty-free outlet at Incheon International Airport in South Korea. The store features clothing and footwear, leather goods, belts, handbags, watches, sunglasses, and other products. 

Generation Research estimates that the duty-free market has almost halved in 2020, from $86 billion to $45 billion. At the same time, the spending of Chinese consumers, who previously preferred shopping abroad, has remained at home. 

Last year, the republic’s government approved triple of the maximum amount for which goods can be purchased duty-free in Hainan. Now the top bar is $ 15.6 thousand, and sales in Hainan have increased fivefold compared to 2019.