The Argentine government has announced that the Puerto Iguazu Free Zone will be extended to include the cities of Posadas, the capital of Misiones province, and Bernardo de Irigoyen. Posadas is located adjacent to the Paraguayan city of Encarnacion and Bernando de Irigoyen shares a land border with the Brazilian town of Dionísio Cerqueira.
About 13.8m passengers crossed the San Roque Gonzalez International Bridge connecting Argentina and Brazil in Posadas last year which compares with 15.5m passengers crossing the Friendship Bridge into Paraguay from Brazil and Argentina.
Travel Markets Insider understands that as the announcement is an extension of the current free zone contract, the incumbent retailer, London Supply, will be able to establish new duty free stores in both locations.
London Supply President Teddy Taratuty told TMI: “We are currently looking at the full statement from the government in the State Gazette and this looks like a very exciting development for the whole province of Misiones and we are convinced it will be great for tourism and the creation of jobs for the local economy. Once we have a clear view of the additional legislation, we will announce our plans, but our immediate feeling is that this will be very positive for the duty free business in Argentina.”
