of the entire global travel retail market now sits in Asia Pacific. More than the rest of the world combined.

More than half of global travel retail is already in Asia Pacific. This feels like the right place to close a series that started closer to home.

Twelve editions ago this started with EU packaging rules. It ends here, in the region that already holds more of this industry than everywhere else combined. Felt like the right place to close things out, expansive rather than tidy.

Hainan just changed shape entirely

On 18 December 2025, China launched island-wide special customs operations across Hainan, turning the entire island into a single, high-standard free trade port rather than a patchwork of zones. Zero-tariff coverage jumped from 21% to roughly 74% of all tariff lines overnight. Offshore duty free sales followed, up 19% year on year in the fourth quarter, the first genuinely positive quarter since 2024. That's not incremental growth, it's a structural reset of what the market can do.

The open question

What's genuinely uncertain is whether sustainability becomes a real part of that growth story, or whether it stays a secondary conversation while the market simply scales. China Duty Free Group's own recent outlook talks about digital ecosystems and culture, tourism and health collaborations as its main growth levers, nothing specific yet on sustainability integration at this pace of expansion. That's not a criticism, fast growth and structured sustainability strategy don't always arrive on the same timeline, we've seen that pattern across several editions of this series now. Worth watching rather than assuming either way.

If you operate in APAC, or you're watching this region for the same reasons we are, I'd genuinely like to hear from you. Reply any time.

That's twelve editions of Cabin Pressure. Started with sustainable packaging, ended in Hainan, and covered fuel, circular economy, wellness, Gen Z, EU regulation, biodiversity and pre-order along the way. Thank you for reading every week. If there's a topic you'd like covered next, reply and tell me, I'm genuinely building the next run around what people actually want to know about.

A bit more info, as always.

Adam

Commercial Director · Bitmore · adam@bitmore.co.uk