Scrap hated tourist tax to give the High Street a desperately needed boost, says jeweller
Scrap hated tourist tax to give the High Street a desperately needed boost, says jeweller Pandora
Pandora said scrapping the tourist tax would be a salve for the High Street as it battles the cost-of-living crisis and train strikes.
Rasmus Brix, the jeweller’s general manager for the UK & Ireland, said the firm was ‘missing out’ due to the absence of VAT-free shopping for visitors to the UK.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faces mounting pressure to reintroduce the tax-break, which he scrapped in 2021.
Tax blow: Rasmus Brix, general manager for the UK & Ireland at Pandora, said the charm-bracelet maker was ‘missing out’ due to the absence of VAT-free shopping for visitors to the UK
More than 350 business leaders have backed the Mail’s Scrap the Tourist Tax campaign.
Brix told The Mail that scrapping the tax ‘could offer a significant boost for the retail sector and the economy as a whole’. He added it would help to ‘offset some of the disruption we’re seeing as a result of the weather, cost-of-living and ongoing train strikes’.
If tourists could benefit from a 20 per cent refund on their purchases, they would spend more on their average purchase and opt for more expensive jewellery, he said.
Pandora said global sales between April and June were 5 per cent higher than a year earlier.