New campaign urges UK Government to extend tax-free shopping to EU visitors

A campaign launched by New West End Company urges the UK Government to extend the tax-free shopping system to EU visitors when the UK officially leaves the European Union on December 31st. The decline in international visitor numbers to UK cities continues with devastating impacts on the fashion and retail industries.

In a letter to the HM Treasury penned by the Association of International Retail (AIR), the sector of the retail industry that makes sales to visitors to the UK from abroad, and supported by senior industry leaders from retail, hospitality, tourism, entertainment and culture, states European visitors make up 70 percent of all international visitors to Britain.

AIR estimates the tax-free allowance would generate 1.4 billion additional revenue sales through the UK and a total of 2.1 billion pounds for the wider tourist economy.

The impact of Covid-19

“Retail, hospitality and tourism are some of the worst affected industries. Retail sales to overseas visitors, usually 6 billion pounds each year, have collapsed. Major stores that depend heavily on international shoppers have already announced redundancies and many hotels that rely on high value international guests have yet to re-open.”

“It is clear that the slow recovery of international visitor numbers will be led from Europe as traditional long-haul markets are slower to recover. America is still in the middle of its public health crisis and a worsening diplomatic relationship with China may slow any return of high spending Chinese visitors. VisitBritain is concentrating its marketing budget on European countries.”

“Extending tax frees shopping would be a great additional incentive to visit the UK from Europe to complement VisitBritain’s and the GREAT Britain campaign activities. Shopping is one of the top reasons for people visiting Britain.”

Walpole, the trade body representing the UK’s luxury businesses, is pushing for the Government to back the campaign and implement the legislation. From the start of the pandemic AIR, which was founded in March 2020, has been representing to Government the interests of international retail to ensure the strongest possible recovery when visitors start to return, hopefully early in 2021.

For more information go to www.internationalretail.co.uk.

Image via New West End Company