|
Increased Duty Free Shop Profits Go Towards Social Programs
Monday, July 16
Shopping at the duty free shop at the Juan Santamaría (San José) international airport and soon at the Liberia airport, will benefit the poor as the Instituto Mixto de Ayuda Social (IMAS) - the government agency that runs the duty free shop - expects to collect ¢2 billion colones (us$3.85 million dollars) from taxes on sales for this year.
The money will be invested in social assistance programs to cover the basic necessities of poor families and old age homes, orphanages, and shelters for the indigent, among other social programs. The goal is for sales to reach ¢8.5 billion colones, ¢1.5 billion more than sales in 2006. The IMAS says that ¢2.5 billion colones is the expected earnings from the sales, ¢695 million more than in 2006.
According to the Ley de fortalecimiento del IMAS published in La Gaceta, the official government daily, on February 6, 20% of the profits will go to the Consejo Técnico de Aviación Civil (Cetac) - civil aviation and 80% will go towards social programs. In the past, in addition to the 20% to Cetac, another 20% went to the Ministerio de Hacienda (Revenue ministry) and the balance left for IMAS programs. The new law allows IMAS more resourced for its social assistance programs.
The increase in sales - and profits - is based on the growth of tourism which is prompting the IMAS to open more duty free shops to handle the expected heavy tourist traffic by the end of the year, said José Antonio Li, president of IMAS.
The opening of two duty free shops at the Daniel Oduber International airport in Liberia in October will generate ¢1 billion in sales during October and December alone, a period where Air Comet (Spain), First Choice (England) and Spirit and Frontier airlines (US), will all be operating flights, adding to the increased tourist traffic. The IMAS will be increasing its campaign to let passengers know that they can buy restricted products like liquor and perfumes and receive them when boarding their fight. Arriving passengers can also make purchases at the duty free shops at the San José airport for consumption in Costa Rica. According to IMAS figures, Americans represented 39% of sales by IMAS and 28% by Costa Ricans.
| 
