Tobacco sales may increase after parliament’s tax-free decision, according to the company which operates the stores at the largest Norwegian airports.
On Tuesday,Kristelig Folkeparti (KrF) agreed with the rest of the opposition to discontinue the opportunity to buy two bottles of extra duty free wine instead of tobacco. Travel Retain Norway (TRN),which operates tax-free stores at the largest airports in the country, believes this may cause more people to buy tobacco and snus wrote NRK news.
‘’Tobacco is the product the customer saves the most on in the tax free shop.The price is 50-60% lower than usual” said communications manager,Haakon Dagestad, of TRN.
The company estimates that tobacco sales will ncrease by 5% a year, corresponding to 180,000 cartons of cigarettes or boxes of snus.This will indicate an increase of more than NOK 55 million annually.
“This is primarily a measure to protect the ‘Vinmonopol’, which is one of our important alcohol policy instruments” said Deputy Chairman,Olaug Bollestad, of KrF in a text message to NRK news about the change of rules.
Norwegians bought wine, spirits and cosmetics last year at Oslo Airport for over 3.6 billion. The tax-free decision will come into force as of 2020.
© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today
