HAIKOU, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Offshore duty-free shops on China's island province of Hainan raked in 4.24 billion yuan (about 632.5 million U.S. dollars) in sales in the first quarter of this year, up 29.2 percent year on year, local customs said.

Official data showed that the duty-free shops received over 1 million customers and sold over 5.47 million items in the period, up 20.4 percent and 33.3 percent respectively over the same period of 2018.

Since December 2018, the duty-free shopping quota in Hainan was raised to 30,000 yuan per year from the previous 16,000 yuan, without limits on the number of purchases.

Hainan also opened two new offshore duty-free shops in Haikou and Qionghai in January this year, adding to the previous two in Haikou and Sanya.

The State Council gave Hainan permission to run a pilot offshore duty-free program in April 2011 in an effort to make the island a world-class tourist destination.