(Yicai) Dec. 18 -- China’s Hainan Free Trade Port launched island-wide special customs operations today, expanding tariff-free policies and making shopping on the island more cost-effective and convenient for tourists, without changing existing travel procedures, Yicai learned from interviews.

The move significantly broadens the scope of tariff-free goods in the free trade port. After the launch, the number of tariff-free items has expanded to around 6,600 tariff lines, accounting for about 74 percent of all commodity tariff items, up 53 percentage points from before the start of special customs operations.

Tariff-free goods now cover nearly all production equipment and raw materials, and are expected to help enterprises importing such equipment save about 20 percent in tax costs. The range of beneficiaries has also been comprehensively expanded, essentially covering all types of enterprises and public institutions on the island with actual import needs.

For consumers, existing shopping channels have been further enhanced. Departing passengers are now allowed to shop at duty-free stores on the island, and six categories of Chinese-made products -- clothing and accessories, shoes and hats, ceramic products, silk scarves, coffee, and tea -- are permitted to be sold at island duty-free shops, with value-added tax and consumption tax refunded or exempted.

Following the launch of special customs operations, shopping in Hainan will become cheaper, with prices of some duty-free goods, in particular, expected to fall further. The “buy and pick-up” policy also makes shopping more convenient, said Wei Changren, founder of tourism consultancy Ctcnn.Com.

The new regime brings no procedural changes for business travelers or tourists visiting Hainan, and no additional documents are required, making it highly favorable for travel and shopping while further stimulating local consumption, said Zhao Huanyan, a senior cultural and tourism industry analyst and senior economist.

Industry participants also noted that the policy will benefit inbound tourists. Hainan has expanded the permitted purposes for visa-free entry for travelers from 59 countries, allows foreign tour groups to enter visa-free via cruise ships, and permits foreigners to transit through the island under the 240-hour visa-free transit policy. Combined with other visa-free policies applicable across China, citizens of 86 countries can now enter Hainan without a visa, according to public information.

Hainan received 97.2 million tourists last year, an increase of 8 percent from the previous year. With special customs operations and visa-free policies in place, international flights to Hainan are expected to become more frequent, and cruise ship calls are likely to increase, said Zhou Weihong, deputy general manager of Spring Tour.

This will not only drive growth in inbound tourist numbers but also make duty-free shopping more convenient for overseas visitors, Zhou added, noting that tourism enterprises will need to further optimize their offerings and prepare more diversified products to meet rising demand.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Emmi Laine