Brits to have cheaper holidays in the Canaries thanks to new Brexit tax break

BRITISH tourists could find their holidays in the Canaries cheaper after Brexit.

The Canary government is looking to offer tax breaks to Brits that will cost it an estimated 100 million euros a year in a bid to keep holidaymakers coming to the islands after Brexit.

The Canary Islands proposed the ideal earlier this year but have now started the legal process that will see British holidaymakers exempt from "VAT" after Brexit and put them in the same categories as Russians and visitors from "third world countries".

The islands' government wants Brits to reclaim payment of the tax known as IGIC, as is done with non-EU tourists, as a way of keeping them and not losing their valuable expenditure.

According to figures from the Ministry of Finance, in 2017, just over five million visitors from the United Kingdom spent around 1,500 million in the islands.

If they didn't pay the Canary tax, the government would have lost 100 million euros but this is considered well worth it to save the UK market.

The number of Brits visiting the Canaries has gone down but the amount of money they spend has increased.
Treasury Secretary Rosa Dávila said in Parliament: "The regional government wants to keep this level of visitors and expense of tourists from the UK in the future in spite of the scenario in which the pound could be devalued."

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The Canary government is therefore looking at introducing a "more modern, agile and secure" system than is currently applied to travellers from third countries and which will apply to the British after Brexit.
The IGIC tax is payable on services and products and in a restaurant, would add 5.60 euros to a bill of 80 euros.

The idea is to make the repayment of the tax more simple and faster, with a document given with all invoices.

This will require the installation of optical readers at the Canary airports, which will avoid tourists  having to go through Customs, as is now the case.
In the case of holidaymakers from third countries, the IGIC regulations already allow for a return on purchases of more than 36.06 euros.
Russian tourists have enjoyed this benefit in recent years but Canary leaders say it should now apply to the Brits given the importance of the market to the islands.

Ms Dávila said: "We want the Brits to continue to visit the Canaries and to continue to buy."

The Canaries received about 16 million tourists in 2017, with Brits being the biggest market.

Final figures for 2018 have not yet been released but a drop of at least two per cent is expected following a string of record years when Brits were put off going to countries like Egypt and Tunisia for security reasons but which have since bounced back.

Earlier this year, Sun Online Travel revealed how a tiny island in the Canaries is asking tourists to request written permission before they can visit.

Isla de Lobos near Fuerteventura is trying to cut down on mass tourism by limiting its visitor numbers.

Currently, only 400 people a day are allow to visit the island.