LATIN AMERICA. Asociación Sudamericana de Tiendas Libres (ASUTIL) is expecting to meet with Uruguay’s Minister of Economy in the next week to discuss the prospect of duty free retailers offering online sales for home delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking at a virtual press conference today (27 May), ASUTIL Secretary-General José Luis Donagaray said the trade body was presenting two proposals to the government: one for Uruguayans to purchase up to US$600 of goods per year online and the other for Brazilians to purchase goods from Uruguay online.
Donagaray added: “We have put in a lot of work on this because, if we can be successful, this case will be very good for the rest of the countries in the region [ASUTIL President Gustavo Fagundes flagged the potential opportunity last month -Ed]. This is a solution that we are asking for during the time the airport and borders are effectively closed.
“We have had a lot of discussions with the government. We had a meeting with a Secretary of the President last week, and we are expecting to have a meeting between the end of this week and the beginning of next week with the Minister of Economy to advance with this solution.”
ASUTIL’s efforts to secure support for the region’s duty free sector were today published in one of Uruguay’s leading newspapers, El País, and Donagaray added: “It [ecommerce] has not yet been approved by the government – we are only in discussions – but it is significant that it is being covered by the major press in Uruguay.”
Donagaray added that the association is discussing rent relief and rent deferrals with landlords, with a letter asking for solutions set to go out to the region’s airport authorities next week.
“We need to discuss not only now when the operations are closed but also how things will be the day after,” he said.
“We are having discussions in Brazil that are quite difficult because the airport has been privatised and you have to speak to a lot of people, but we are having progress in some countries.”
Giving his assessment of a recovery in the Latin American travel retail market, Donagaray said: “It is expected that in July people will start flying internationally in the EU. We here in Latin America believe we are one month or one and a half months behind.
“But we have problems: two airlines in the region, LATAM and Avianca, have gone to Chapter 11. That does not mean they will stop working but it is a red [warning] light absolutely.
“On the other side, airports are closed except those in Brazil, Chile and Mexico that are performing at less than 5% of their normal traffic.”
Nonetheless, ASUTIL is still making preparations for its conference focussed on the Brazilian border market, which is due to take place in Foz do Iguaçu in November.
“Iguaçu and Foz do Iguaçu have very few cases and we continue to prepare; the hotels are reopening in June. We will then ask our suppliers how they feel and if they would want to travel ahead of us making a final decision in July,” Donagaray said.
