Video Clip: ASUTIL's José Luis Donagaray on upcoming conferences
The South American duty free association, ASUTIL (Asociación Sudamericana de Tiendas Libres), has announced that it will hold its Encuentro Border Shops (EBS) regional border stores conference on November 8 to 10 in Uruguay at the Hyatt Centric Hotel Montevideo.
According to José Luis Donagaray, Secretary General, ASUTIL, the destination was selected to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the implementation of the Uruguayan duty free border store legislation. Reiterating industry professionals across the channel, he listed networking as one of the greatest assets of the conference.
“Duty free has a direct relationship with tourism. The idea is to show a lot of hard data that will compare what has happened in the first six months of this year versus the first months of 2019 when there was no pandemic. There is a lot to share," Luis Donagaray tells Global Travel Retail Magazine in a video interview on July 18.
Based on the sharing and analyzing of figures, he says the conference will cover changes made in the Brazilian law and the move to harmonize duty free allowances across the region. Attendees can expect to receive relevant and updated political and economic news.
He adds that it's a good opportunity for suppliers to take a trip to see operations in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and other regional countries.
Along with sharing the expectation that four new land border stores will open in Brazil before the end of this year, he said that the annual ASUTIL Conference will take place again – the first time since 2017 – in early June 2023. The location is still to be determined, but he noted it will occur outside of Mexico. More information about the event will be shared by mid-August.
