①In H1 this year, China Tourism Group Duty Free Corporation's revenue decreased by 12.81% year-on-year, and the net income attributable to shareholders decreased by 15.07% year-on-year; ②Recently, multiple departments issued a notice on improving the policy of downtown duty-free shops, and the Hainan Province Department of Commerce hosted the issuance of "airfare + duty-free" consumer vouchers; ③Analysts believe that the new policy of downtown duty-free shops has a limited impact on the duty-free market due to its narrow customer base.
On August 30th, CaiLian News (Reporter Hu Haoqiong) The Hainan offshore duty-free market sales are under pressure, and China Tourism Group Duty Free Corporation (601888.SH) H1 net profit dropped more than 10%. Analysts told CaiLian News that this is related to the opening of outbound tourism. Recently, the new policy of downtown duty-free shops was released, but the customer base is still narrow, and the impact on the market is limited.
Tonight, China Tourism Group Duty Free Corporation released its semi-annual performance report. The financial report shows that the company's revenue in the first half of this year was 31.265 billion yuan, a decrease of 12.81% year-on-year; the net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 3.283 billion yuan, a decrease of 15.07% year-on-year.
According to statistics from the Hainan Provincial Bureau of Statistics, in the first half of 2024, the passenger throughput of ports and airports in Hainan Province was 35.6845 million person-times, an increase of 9.1% year-on-year, of which outbound passengers were 18.6117 million person-times, an increase of 10.7% year-on-year. However, the growth of the Hainan tourism market is uneven, presenting a "cold south and hot north" trend. According to statistics from Sanya and Haikou airports in Hainan, in the first half of 2024, the passenger throughput of Sanya Phoenix International Airport was 10.889 million person-times, a decrease of 3.2% year-on-year; the passenger throughput of Haikou Meilan International Airport was 14.494 million person-times, an increase of 20.3% year-on-year.
In the first half of this year, the offshore duty-free market in Hainan was under pressure. According to statistics from the Haikou Customs, in the first half of 2024, the amount of duty-free shopping on offshore islands was 18.46 billion yuan, a decrease of 29.9% year-on-year; the number of duty-free shoppers was 3.361 million person-times, a decrease of 10% year-on-year.
"The decrease in the net income attributable to shareholders of China Tourism Group Duty Free Corporation is not mainly due to the support of airport duty-free shops. In recent years, the number of passengers leaving the country through airports has increased." Zhou Mingqi, founder of Jingjian Think Tank, further stated to CaiLian News reporter, and the actual volume of passengers leaving the country on the third batch of outbound group tours resumed in August last year will start to increase after October.
It is worth noting that there have been frequent policies related to duty-free shopping recently. The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the General Administration of Customs, and the State Taxation Administration issued the "Notice on Improving the Policy of Downtown Duty-Free Shops" (referred to as the "Notice") recently, which clearly stipulates that starting from October 1, 2024, the management of downtown duty-free shops will be standardized in accordance with the "Interim Measures for the Management of Downtown Duty-Free Shops", and the healthy and orderly development of downtown duty-free shops will be promoted.
The "Interim Measures" stipulate that the sales objects of downtown duty-free shops are passengers who will take air transportation or international cruises within 60 days (including but not limited to Chinese passengers). Downtown duty-free shops adopt the method of pre-purchasing in the city and picking up goods at the port of departure. After shopping in downtown duty-free shops, passengers should pick up the purchased duty-free goods at the duty-free goods pickup point set up in the exit quarantine area of the port, and carry them out of the country at one time.
The Caixin reporter also learned that the Department of Commerce of Hainan Province recently hosted the distribution of "air tickets + duty-free" consumption vouchers in Hainan Province, in the form of limited distribution of air tickets and duty-free consumption vouchers, distributing air ticket consumption vouchers of 9 million yuan and duty-free consumption vouchers of 15 million yuan, respectively.
In order to support the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port, Hainan Airlines Holding (600221.SH) announced today that Hainan Airlines has launched the "air tickets + duty-free" consumption voucher activity in Hainan, where passengers can purchase a package of 500 yuan Hainan Airlines ticket consumption vouchers for 1 yuan and receive a free package of 500 yuan offshore duty-free consumption vouchers.
"Previously, the duty-free policy in the city allowed domestic consumers to shop in duty-free stores with records of entry and exit within 180 days. The new policy has adjusted the time range to before exit, but the duty-free consumption for people returning to the country has not yet been clarified." Zhou Mingqi believes that the customer base for duty-free shopping in the city is still relatively narrow, and overseas discount stores have a greater impact, while domestic duty-free shopping in the city has limited appeal to passengers about to leave the country. Moreover, the number of inbound tourists is still small, and the desire and demand for shopping from this group of people is relatively small. Overall, the impact is relatively limited.