(Yicai Global) June 30 -- Shares of firms in the Hainan Free Trade Zone sector, Hainan sector, local attractions and tourism opened stronger after China announced an increase in the duty-free shopping limit for its southern island province.

The central government released a document yesterday to further relax the annual duty-free quota for travelers to Hainan to CNY100,000 (USD14,140) from CNY30,000 (USD4,240) in order to further develop the province’s free-trade port. The new level took effect today.

Caissa Tosun Development [SHE:000796], China Tourism Group Duty Free [SHA:601888], and HNA Infrastructure Investment Group [SHA:600515] hit their upper limits today. It was the second day in a row for China Tourism Group Duty Free to climb by the exchange-imposed trading threshold, with its market value reaching a record CNY300 billion (USD42.4 billion).

Guoxin Securities said in a research note that the new policy will help Hainan’s duty-free market to continue to expand in the short term, and is expected to directly benefit the growth of China Tourism Group Duty Free in the next two years.

The new policy also increases the number of duty-free categories from 38 to 45. Newly added classes include natural honey, tea, tablets, electronic consumer products, mobile phones, game consoles and alcohol.

Apple’s iPhones were not included previously. But from now tourists who travel to Hainan can save 13 percent on import value-added tax when buying the handset’s official Chinese version, which is comparable to its Hong Kong version price.

Editor: Peter Thomas