Hainan Duty Free for Foreigners: CNY 100,000, Limits

Foreign visitors can shop at Hainan's duty-free stores under the "offshore" scheme that applies to anyone leaving the island. The current rule is Announcement No. 9 of 2025, issued jointly by China's Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs and the State Taxation Administration on 15 October 2025 and in force from 1 November 2025. The annex with the quantity limits for each category is published as a PDF on the Chinese government portal. We downloaded and read it on 17 October 2026, so this page gives the per-category limits that our Thai-language twin could not. The main trap for first-timers: you do not carry the goods out of the store. You collect them at the airport or port when you leave.

Entry rules for the trip itself are on the China entry page and, for Hainan, in the Sanya guide.

The rule, in plain words

The table summarises the points of the announcement that matter to visitors. The wording is a paraphrase of the Chinese text.

The new clause in Announcement No. 9 is the one for travellers who leave the island and leave the country ("离岛且离境"). People who leave the island but stay in China, for example by flying from Sanya to Shanghai, are covered by the earlier 2020 notice (No. 33), which the announcement says continues to apply. This page is for visitors who fly out of China from Hainan.

The quantity table: what you can buy

The annex lists "category, quantity per person per purchase, remarks". We read the table on 17 October 2026 and show it in English. "Unlimited" means the table says 不限. "1 item" means a single, complete retail package with its own price; for sets, the notice counts the actual pieces in the package.

One thing to keep straight: the quantity cap is per person per purchase, while the CNY 100,000 allowance applies across the whole calendar year.

China Duty Free Group's own Sanya page says the mall sells "45 categories". The announcement counts 47. The operator's page is undated and was probably written before the 2025 update, so we use the announcement.

The Sanya International Duty Free City

The operator's site says the mall is at 118 Haitang North Road in Haitang District, next to the eastern section of the G98 ring expressway and 30 minutes by car from Sanya. It has two buildings, A and B, with 120,000 sq m of floor area and nearly 300 international brands. Its page gives opening hours of 10:00 to 22:00. Wikivoyage says 09:00 to 22:00, which does not match; we use the operator's hours, but check on the day you go. A second operator page says the city shop in Sanya was the country's first offshore duty-free store, opened in 2011, and that the Haitang complex opened in September 2014.

How to get there

Wikivoyage says some five-star hotels run free shuttle buses and that public buses 33, 34, 35 and Haitang Bay 1 call at the mall (not official). Hotel sites in Haitang Bay give distances: Fairmont writes 6 km and Sofitel Leeman 5 km. See where to stay in Sanya. If you stay in Haitang Bay, you can reach the mall easily and plan the shopping for the day before you leave.

The island-wide special customs operation, 18 December 2025

Xinhua, on the Chinese government's English site, reported that China began island-wide special customs operations in Hainan on 18 December 2025 and made the island a separately supervised customs area. The article does not mention tourists or duty-free shopping, so we do not claim the visitor rules changed. The rules we can verify are in Announcement No. 9, above.

Practical checklist

• Keep your outbound ticket. The notice ties the allowance to a ticket out of Hainan and an actual exit from the country.
• Gold and silver items are for people who stay in China after leaving the island, not for those flying abroad.
• Collect goods only at the designated pickup area in the airport or port, and allow time before check-in or border control.
• Remember the cap on alcohol: 1,500 ml in total per purchase. Phones are capped at 4 and cosmetics at 30.
• Check your own country's customs allowances for what you can import. We did not check any country's rules on this page.
• Confirm age: the minimum age is 18, not 16.

Links on this page and our earnings

This page has no booking button or affiliate link, because duty-free goods are bought in the operator's store or its approved channels. We earn nothing from this page. Our disclosure page explains how affiliate links work on the rest of the site.

How this compares

We opened China Highlights' Sanya guide and Wikivoyage's Sanya page. China Highlights, in the text we read, did not mention the duty-free scheme at all. Wikivoyage mentions the mall, its address and a proof-of-ticket rule, with opening hours that disagree with the operator's. This page cites the primary announcement and its annex, gives all 47 categories with their per-purchase limits, and records where the operator's own page disagrees with the notice.

Frequently asked questions

See also

• Sanya travel guide
• Wuzhizhou Island
• Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone
• Where to stay in Sanya
• China entry rules

Prices, schedules and entry rules change. Figures here are approximate as of 2026; always confirm on the official or operator page before you book. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.