On December 18, Hainan became a separate customs territory from mainland China, exempting around 6,600 categories of goods from tariffs—about 74 per cent of taxable imports—to support sustainable growth as a free-trade port. The island province, home to more than 10 million people and slightly larger than Belgium, aims to move beyond its tourism-centred economy following three speculative booms and busts.
Hainan province is undergoing an economic transformation. Joyce Wu, who moved from Hainan to Hong Kong in 2013, marvelled at the booming skyline of Haikou during visits home, with gleaming high-rises reshaping the southern island's capital amid a property-driven boom. Around 2020, that momentum faded, replaced by more professionals and foreign academics arriving via university partnerships, and growing business interest from outside the province. “They were clearly not tourists,” she said. “They were professionals or researchers.” Her observation mirrors Hainan’s broader shift—after the bursting of three speculative booms driven by policy windfalls, the province’s previously tourism-centred economy is pivoting to sustainable growth centred on its new free-trade port status, even as long-standing structural constraints persist. On December 18, the island—with more than 10 million people and a surface area slightly larger than Belgium—became a customs territory separate from the rest of mainland China. The move exempted around 6,600 categories of goods from tariffs, about 74 per cent of taxable imports. Keywords include Haikou, Sanya, China Duty Free Group, and Belt and Road Initiative.