Luke Chang is the executive vice president of China Duty Free Group (CDFG), one of the world’s largest travel retailers and a major player in Hainan, China’s domestic duty-free hub. The country’s southernmost province and a tropical island, Hainan enjoys one of the highest duty-free allowances in the world. Chang and his colleagues provide fashion brands with access to Chinese tourists who shifted to domestic destinations when international travel was disrupted by the pandemic. In late 2022, CDFG made headlines when it announced it created “the largest single duty-free shop in the world”, after opening a new mall in Haikou, Hainan’s capital, standing at 280,000 square metres and featuring more than 800 brands.
CDFG’s early M&A activities proved critical to its rise, including its acquisitions of Sunrise China and Sunrise Shanghai, which brought it access to airports in Beijing and Shanghai, and its key acquisition of Hainan Duty Free Company Ltd. By 2023, CDFG's portfolio in Hainan alone included CDF Haikou International Duty Free Shopping Complex, CDF Sanya International Duty Free Shopping Complex, CDF Sanya Phoenix Airport Duty Free Shop, CDF Haikou Duty Free Shop, CDF Haikou Meilan Airport Duty Free Shop and, CDF Boao Duty Free Shop. CDFG has numerous other holdings beyond Hainan.
Chang works closely with the company’s departments overseeing fashion and beauty, the luxury division in accessories, watches and jewellery and liquor and tobacco. He is responsible for all activities related to buying, merchandising and brand business development. With more than 26 years of experience in the duty free and travel retail industry, Chang’s team has forged valuable relationships with colleagues in CDFG’s parent company China Tourism Group (CTG), helping to create synergies for brand partners. As the right hand of the chairman, he is responsible for implementing decisions of the board of directors. Luke Chang is also known as Chang Zhujun.
