WHO climbs down on duty-free alcohol ban

The World Health Organization (WHO) has removed a proposal to tax duty-free alcohol sales to international travellers from a draft strategy paper on reducing harmful alcohol consumption.

The proposal, which was first published in December 2009, threatened to cripple a revenue stream worth an annual USD3.44 billion to the airport industry.

However, at an official strategy meeting in late January the WHO Executive Board set the idea aside.

Duty-free industry trade associations such as the European Travel Retail Council (ETRC) and the Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association (APTRA) successfully mounted a six-week lobbying campaign with national delegations in Geneva to reverse the decision. They argued existing customer allowances were sufficient to limit harmful alcohol consumption.

Airports Council International (ACI) also weighed in against the proposal. "To have this nipped in the bud so quickly took a very well co-ordinated global lobbying campaign," an ETRC spokesman told Jane's .