(Yicai Global) Sept. 23 -- China National Service Corporation recently issued an online recruitment ad that has stirred market speculation the company may be about to secure the fourth offshore duty-free business license in Hainan province.

CNSC is going all out to build an offshore duty-free shop in the resort city of Sanya in the south of the balmy, breezy tropical island and is looking to fill about 10 positions from managers to shopping guides, all in Sanya, the company said in the help-wanted ad.

Hainan is China’s southernmost province and a tourist island often compared to Hawaii. Chinese authorities plan to turn the entire province into a zero-tariff free trade port by 2025.

"We are only in the preparatory stage, and everything is subject to government notices," a CNSC executive told Yicai Global, but without directly commenting on the matter.

CNSC is China's first nationwide duty-free business and a subsidiary of Sinopharm Group, official data showed.

China Duty Free Group had long held absolute sway over Hainan’s tax-free sector before Hainan Tourism Investment Development and Global Consumer Boutique Hainan Development and Trade joined in the fray last month.

Many companies from outside Hainan are bidding for the province’s fourth offshore duty-free business license, Yicai Global reported earlier this month.

Hainan’s duty-free business is ballooning as it is the only Chinese political unit that implements the offshore tax exemption policy at the provincial level, and it thus also makes up a disproportionally large slice of the country’s total.

China's tax-free business sales were about CNY50 billion (USD7.4 billion) last year, while Hainan’s offshore duty-free sales were CNY13.6 billion, public data show.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Ben Armour