VAT free shopping U-turn ‘major blow’ for West End as tourists shun London for Paris and Milan

Emily Hawkins

20.10.22

Scrapping VAT free shopping for tourists is a “major blow” for London and the country’s economy, a group representing luxury stores in the West End and other retail hotspots has said.

Paul Barnes, chief executive of the Association of International Retail (AIR) – whose members range from Bicester Airport to Heathrow Airport – told CityA.M. the policy had been “one of the few measures in the growth plan that would have directly and quickly lead to increased economic growth across the country.”

High spending international visitors from the US and Gulf States were “shunning Britain” currently and jetting off for shopping sprees in Paris and Milan while “giving London a miss,” Barnes said.

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