Shoppers shop at a tax-free plaza in Haikou, South China’s Hainan Province. Getty Images
US luxury retailers, impatient for shoppers to start buying high-end goods again, are turning their gaze to the one place in the world where that’s happening: an island in the South China Sea.
Hainan Island, China’s smallest province, is one of the few tourist destinations on the planet that’s back in full swing as virus-related restrictions squeeze international travel. The revival has caught the attention of executives like Patrice Louvet, chief executive officer of Ralph Lauren.
“Hainan is a strategic priority for us,” Louvet…