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Leading travel retailer prepares to return to Hainan to create a world-class duty-free retail experience with local partner.
DFS Group, a leading travel retailer, has sent warm congratulations to its business partner, Shenzhen Duty Free Group, on their successful award of a highly-sought license to operate an offshore downtown duty-free business in Haikou Mission Hills, Hainan.
Haikou, a port city and the capital of China’s island province Hainan, sits on the island’s north coast. The city is an important center of cultural heritage and boasts rich natural beauty as well as a pleasant tropical climate and numerous attractions. Mission Hills is an integrated eco-tourism resort in Haikou spanning approximately 100,000 square meters, offering world-class leisure and recreation facilities including golf courses, a water park, hot and cool mineral pools and a man-made beach.
DFS and Shenzhen Duty Free Group have a long-established and successful partnership, with DFS supplying merchandise and advising on operations across Shenzhen Duty Free Group’s network. Earlier this year, DFS acquired a 22 percent stake in Shenzhen Duty Free Ecommerce Co, which is majority owned by Shenzhen Duty Free Group.
With Shenzhen Duty Free Group’s successful award of a downtown duty-free license for Haikou Mission Hills, DFS will partner with Shenzhen Duty Free Group to establish a world-class duty-free retail experience for visitors to Hainan totaling approximately 30,000 square meters. The project will be completed in phases beginning in January 2021.
DFS will bring its strong relationships with international luxury brands, together with its unparalleled merchandising know-how, digital innovation and world-renowned store design expertise, to create a “city within a city” – an exciting and luxurious shopping destination that will set a new retail bar in Hainan. The project will feature DFS’ largest Beauty Hall as well as a wealth of exciting international products from some of the world’s best-known brands in the worlds of fashion and accessories, watches and jewelry, wines and spirits, and premium food and gifts.
In the first phase of the project, due to open in Q1 2021, DFS will present an experiential display of its retail capabilities, taking customers on an immersive and spellbinding tour of “The World in a Day” that represents the very best of its global store network. Incorporating elements from world-class DFS gallerias in locations as far away as Venice and Paris and as close as Sydney and Macau, the store will offer customers in Hainan a curated selection of fashion, beauty, watches and jewelry brands.
For over 60 years, DFS, which is privately held and majority owned by the world’s largest luxury conglomerate Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH), has provided global travelers with luxurious and inspiring shopping experiences in some of the most iconic travel destinations around the world. The company had a presence in Hainan from 2005 to 2019 and is excited to once again support the Hainan Provincial Government in their ambition to transform the island into a world-class free-trade island.
“With our long history of developing new markets in Asia, as well as our expertise in downtown duty-free retailing, strong luxury brand relationships and deep understanding of travelling Chinese customers, we are ready to take retail in Hainan to new heights,” said Benjamin Vuchot, DFS Group Chairman and CEO. “We look forward to supporting our esteemed partner, Shenzhen Duty Free, in their latest successful venture, and to contributing to the development of tourism and retail in Hainan. We are also proud to take our valued brand partners on the next phase of our journey into new and exciting travel retail destinations.”
DFS also congratulates the Hainan Provincial Government on its success in controlling the COVID-19 outbreak on the island and applauds the authorities’ stellar efforts to encourage visitors to return to Hainan. In a show of solidarity with its Chinese customers earlier this year, the retailer issued a message on its WeChat platform, assuring in Chinese, “No winter can’t be passed, No spring will not come.”
In partnership with Shenzhen Duty Free Group, DFS looks forward to creating a beautiful Springtime for customers in Hainan, with the completion of this latest project.
TravelDailyNews Asia-Pacific editorial team has an experience of over 35 years in B2B travel journalism as well as in tourism & hospitality marketing and communications.
