LATIN AMERICA. Brazil’s National Congress (Parliament) has increased the duty free allowance from US$300 to US$500 for Brazilian shoppers at land border stores in the country, in a move approved yesterday. The news was confirmed by ASUTIL Secretary-General José Luis Donagaray at an online media briefing today.
Donagaray said: “It is good news that Brazilian travellers can buy in their own duty free shops at a higher level of US$500. It means they can purchase a wider variety of goods and it will raise the average ticket.
“You will recall that Brazil raised the duty free allowance for travellers entering Brazil via a land border from US$300 to US$500 in January 2020. It also raised the allowance for travellers entering by air from US$500 to US$1,000.
“This harmonises the allowances for Brazilians who shop at their own border stores. ASUTIL, led by President Gustavo Fagundes, has been working closely with the duty free business in Brazil to liberalise the rules and ensure the system is clear.”
Currently there are 19 land border stores on the Brazilian side of the frontier since these outlets began opening in 2019. Donagaray said that investment is still being maintained despite the COVID crisis.
“Stores have continued to open. The allowance increase is good news for this business to move forward. We could end up with 35 or more stores by the end of next year, right across the border. The business case is very good because they can sell to Brazilians, and there is a huge population near the borders.”
Speaking about the wider situation in the region, Donagaray said that vaccination progress had been positive in Latin America recently but that Omicron was a concerning development. “Uruguay has 74% of the population with double vaccination, and 40% with three jabs. It is moving well, and we are looking closely at what will happen.
“In the industry we are looking forward. In the past two to three months we have seen many more reopenings, such as London Supply at Puerto Iguazu, which was shut for 20 months. The borders are all open, and restrictions have been eased. Today you only need a negative PCR test to enter most countries without further restrictions or the need for further tests. Places like Chile were very complicated to travel to until recently. We see the appetite among people to travel again.
“In other good news, the EU this week recognised Uruguay’s vaccination certification, which was not the case before. There is reciprocity there too. We expect this to accelerate to other countries in our region also.”
ASUTIL Conference to return in 2023
In other ASUTIL news, the association plans to return to hosting its own annual conference from 2023, preceded by another border shops’ seminar to be held in November 2022.
ASUTIL will not be an organising partner with IAADFS at the Summit of the Americas, Donagaray said. “ASUTIL will be a content partner – we will take part in the conference in Palm Beach – but not in the organisation of the event.
“We are taking a new way forward. ASUTIL will come back with the border operators meetings in Foz do Iguazu in November 2022. Then in June 2023 we plan to host our previously annual ASUTIL Conference once more. We will probably go to a location in the Caribbean, which is close to the hubs of Miami and Panama, and where you can get good value on hotels and facilities. We will also continue with our bi-monthly webinars next year.”
For more, see our separate story.
