A total of 94.8 billion yuan ($14.53 billion) worth of duty-free shopping volume was recorded as of the first quarter of 2021 in Hainan since the duty-free policies were put into effect in the southern province in 2011, Hainan Daily reported on Monday, citing data from the local customs office.

The duty-free shopping volume was generated from 122 million pieces of duty-free goods that were purchased by 22.58 million visitors, according to customs.

The year-on-year growth in the first quarter of 2021 alone stood at 355.7 percent, 327.7 percent and 176.8 percent respectively in terms of duty-free shopping volume (13.57 billion yuan), pieces of goods (17.75 million) and visitors (1.79 million).

Moreover, although local tourism was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, duty-free shopping has bucked the trend. In 2020, Hainan customs registered duty-free shopping volume of 27.48 billion yuan from 34.10 million commodities bought by 4.48 million visitors, up 103.7 percent, 87.4 percent and 19.2 percent from a year earlier.