China's luxury shoppers free to travel, but many buy locally

SANYA, China: China's scrapping of travel curbs this month is expected to revive demand in the global luxury retail market, but many consumers see more reasons to do their high-end shopping locally on the tax-free island of Hainan.

On Wednesday, thousands of travellers in Hainan's Sanya city packed the CDF Mall, a shopping centre dedicated to duty free stores, where they stocked up on cosmetics and handbags while on break for the Lunar New Year Holiday.

"The UK is quite far and it's hard to buy tickets," said Yu Shunxiao, a student who said he used to shop at Harrods in London. "In Sanya, we can come and leave whenever we want."