The second China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE), billed as the largest high-end consumer exhibition in Asia-Pacific, concluded in Haikou, capital of South Chi-na's Hainan Province, on Saturday with a larger attendance and more impressive deals logged than its inaugural edition last year.

More than 280,000 visitors and 2,800-plus brands of 1,955 firms from 61 countries and regions participated in the expo, Huang Cui, chief representative of the Beijing Office for the Hainan Provincial Bureau of International Economic Development, revealed during a press conference on Saturday.

Specifically, 1,643 brands of 1,107 firms took the CICPE stage at the international exhibi-tion area, while 1,200 brands of 848 companies made their appearance at the event. Over 40,000 buyers and professional visitors attended it, an increase of 10,000 from last year. During this year's CICPE, 177 launch events were held, with 622 new products released.

By comparison, 2,628 brands of 1,505 firms from home and abroad attended last year's expo, the first-ever hosted by China focusing on premium consumer goods at the national level. Last year's event attracted 240,000 visitors.

A Yacht Show was held in Haikou during this year's expo, with the participation of some 200 yachts from 50 brands hailing from 12 countries, rising 89 percent from 2021.

A slew of matchmaking activities were hosted. While the final deal numbers are still being collected, early data shows this year's expo far outnumbers last year's, Huang said.

South China's Guangdong Province secured 100 million yuan ($14.83 million) in match-making deals last year. The number soared to 1.5 billion yuan this year.

The CICPE, alongside the Canton Fair, the China International Fair for Trade in Services, and the China International Import Expo, has formed the national-level "exhibition matrix" for China to take the initiative to share development opportunities with the world, the expo organizer said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Saturday.

The first batch of 31 firms and organizations from the fashion, travel, health products, jew-elry and services, including Coach parent Tapestry and the Korea Trade-Investment Pro-motion Agency, signed up for the third CICPE.

According to incomplete data, over 90 percent of exhibitors this year have voiced willing-ness to sign up for the third CICPE, the organizer disclosed.

"The hugely ambitious event offers an important opportunity for international exhibitors and visitors to gain a deeper understanding of Hainan's Free Trade Port policy," according to a white paper on the Hainan travel retail market released by KPMG and The Moodie Davitt Report during the consumer expo.

At the same time, the expo "will create many business opportunities for Chinese and international companies, positively impacting Hainan's duty-free industry," read the white paper.

Over the next five years, the island province is on course to becoming the world's top duty free market, according to estimates by The Moodie Davitt Report, a London-based busi-ness intelligence service.

Offshore duty-free shops in Hainan recorded daily sales of upwards of 200 million yuan during the CICPE on Wednesday and Thursday, the Hainan Daily reported on Saturday, citing statistics from the provincial commerce department. On Thursday alone, 10 offshore duty-free shops in Hainan tallied sales of 212 million yuan, a surge of 48 percent from last year, the report said.