Canada reconsiders axing visitor rebate programme

Emily Pacey

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The Frontier Duty Free Association has met with Canada’s finance minister to discuss the future of the visitor tax rebate scheme.

Canada’s axed sales tax refund scheme may be reinstated after duty-free and tourism industry lobbyists met with the government’s finance minister in December.

The Visitor Rebate Program (VRP) was cut in September, to the dismay of land border duty-free retailers in Canada, who benefit from customers spending rebates after collecting the refunds from the rebate windows that many border shops run.

Industry body Frontier Duty Free Association (FDFA) joined other members of the VRP Coalition to meet with finance minister on December 13. The group argued that the rebates are critical to tourism and asked that the rebate scheme be reinstated on purchases to encourage maximum tourist spend while in Canada.

FDFA executive director Laurie Karson said: “The minister has left the door open to further review and discussion, and the FDFA will continue to work with the TIAC-led coalition to push for continuation of some form of VRP.”