One year after the minimum spending threshold for accessing Tax Free Shopping was lowered from 154,95 euros to 70,01 euros thanks to the action of the Ministry of Tourism and Minister Santanchè, the objectives of achieving greater attractiveness, democratization and decentralization have been achieved. This was announced by Global Blue – a leading company in the sector – during Shopping Tourism–The Italian forum, during which it presented some exclusive data on the topic.

GREATER ATTRACTIVENESS

The rule has finally aligned the threshold to the EU average, allowing Italy to no longer be the country with the highest minimum spending. This immediately translated into greater competitiveness of the system, producing positive results for the entire sector. In the period February 2024 - January 2025, Tax Free Shopping transactions increased by +44%, there was a +5% increase in spending volumes and - above all - over 500.000 new shoppers were attracted who exclusively purchased between 70,01 euros and 154,94, mainly Americans (18%), Latin Americans (12%), Swiss (9%) and Turks (7%).

GREATER DEMOCRATIZATION

The new threshold has allowed a democratization of Tax Free involving new nationalities. In particular the Swiss, whose contribution of transactions under the threshold amounts to 17%, Latin Americans (13%) and Turks (8%). Above the threshold the share was only 4%, 7% and 4% respectively. Not only that, these nationalities also recorded the most significant increase in transactions: +83% for the Swiss; +64% for Latin Americans; +67% for Turks.

GREATER DECENTRALISATION

The measure encourages the decentralization of shopping: with the new minimum limit, the contribution to Tax Free spending in the 4 main cities (Milan, Rome, Florence and Venice) drops to 52%, a decrease of 25 percentage points compared to the 77% recorded for purchases over 154,94 euros. This favors tourism and related industries in destinations that were not usually included in the itineraries of foreign shoppers and which see their share of Tax Free spending rise from 11% to 27%. The increase in transactions is particularly significant in destinations such as Catania (+73%), Como (+69%), Amalfi (+65%), Naples (+63%), San Gimignano (+63%), Verona (+61%), Bellagio (+58%), Assisi (+54%) and Bologna (+50%).

This decentralization has brought a further benefit: encouraging purchases towards local retail and small artisans, which have always been linked to the concept of Made in Italy. Considering only this market segment, it is possible to note how Tax Free transactions have increased by +56% and volumes by +12%: numbers much higher than the +44% and +5% generated at a national level, respectively. The driving forces are product sectors such as leather goods and bags (+56% transactions and +17% spending), shoes (+85% and +29% respectively) and perfumes and cosmetics (+150% and +49%).

"The data from the first year of the reduction of the threshold for access to Tax Free Shopping demonstrate that what was told to institutions and stakeholders in the sector over the last few years had deep roots. Having aligned Italy with the rest of Europe, brought half a million exclusive shoppers into the 70,01-154,94 euro spending bracket alone, attracted new nationalities and strengthened new shopping centres far from the classic destinations, while at the same time favouring local retail and small-scale craftsmanship, is a success not only for us operators in the sector, but for the Italian system as a whole - starting with the Ministry of Tourism - which strongly wanted to invest in this rule", declared Stefano Rizzi, Managing Director Italy of Global Blue.