Staff members work at a desk in a shopping mall that advertises the rebate in Haikou, capital of south China's Hainan Province, Dec. 27, 2010. Overseas tourists can from next year claim tax refunds of 11 percent of their purchases from certain shopping malls in Hainan Province when leaving China there, a local official said Monday. The rebate covers clothing, shoes, hats, cosmetics, clocks and watches, jewelry, electronics, stationery, sports goods, medical instruments and furniture. [Xinhua/Guo Cheng]

Experience gained from running the scheme will be used to improve the country's tax rebate system, Zheng said.

The Chinese government is also working on a policy allowing domestic tourists to buy at duty-free shops in Hainan, Lu added. Currently, only overseas tourists can buy at two duty-free shops in Haikou and Sanya.

Local tourists make up 96 percent of the island's total number of tourists.

"Hainan should allow, as soon as possible, domestic visitors and locals to buy duty-free goods," said Chi Fulin, executive director of the Haikou-based China Institute for Reform and Development.

Hainan received more than 23 million tourists who stayed overnight in the first 11 months of the year, up 11.6 percent from a year earlier, according to local statistics bureau.

Meanwhile, the tourism revenue surged 20.7 percent year on year to 22.9 billion yuan (3.5 billion U.S. dollars).

The Chinese government in early January revealed a plan to build the tropical island of Hainan into a top international tourism destination by 2020.

To achieve the goal, Hainan added five more countries to its visa-free list in August, making tourist groups from 26 countries enjoy visa-free access for up to 15 days.