Association of International Retail stands ready to work with the new Government and Parliament.

The international visitor economy is the 3rd largest export sector in the UK. Our global leading shopping offers and experience continues to draw international visitors to our high streets and city centres, and, particularly, stimulate spending.

The sector contributes £80bn to the UK economy, supporting 1.5 million jobs across the country. Before pandemic, it was one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK, bolstered by the tax-free shopping scheme in place at the time.

AIR’s top priority is to elevate TFS to a government priority. Its contribution to economic growth was unfortunately dismissed by the last government on forecasts now shown by overwhelming evidence to be incomplete, inaccurate and unstable without proper scrutinies from the OBR.

To unlock the significant potential of the sector, AIR and our members look forward to supporting Labour’s mission driven growth agenda and collaboratively exploring measures to foster sustainable growth within the sector and across the country.