April 17, 2021
After more than 60 years, the Chamber of Commerce’s duty-free facility at the Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA), no longer considered a viable business, has “permanently” closed shop at the end of last month, the business association said Friday.
From the start of April, the Customs and Excise Department had assumed full responsibilities for the airport’s duty-free services, the chamber said in a statement.
A duty-free facility opened at the then Seawell Airport in 1959 with the passage of the 1958 Drawback of Duties on Sales of Goods to Tourists Regulations.
The facility provided services to local duty-free retailers on behalf of the Customs and Excise Department, specifically the handling of duty-free packages purchased by travellers, as well as the processing of volumes of third schedules (triplicate invoices) under the drawback regulations scheme.