New spending figures have laid bare the damage inflicted on the retail sector’s competitiveness by the government’s post-Brexit tourist tax.
After the introduction of VAT on overseas spending, shops in London are struggling to capitalise on a post-Covid uplift in travel as the higher duty encourages visitors to divert to Paris and other European cities.
Tourists from the United States and the Gulf region reduced their spending in the West End by 1 per cent and 17 per cent, respectively, in the three months to June compared with the same period in 2019, according to research by the New West End Company. This is despite flight bookings from these regions rising by 17 per cent and 7 per cent against the second quarter of 2019.
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