After months of planning, Golfito duty-free zone
establishes the daily shopping system

Golfito duty-free announces the activation of the daily purchasing system, after months of discussing the project.

The new purchasing system was achieved after the government signed an order this week to immediately activate it.

The duty-free shopping center, known as the Deposito Libre de Golfito, was created in 1990 to promote tourism and increase commerce in that area after the decline of the banana operations there. All products within the free zone are tax-free. Both Costa Ricans and foreigners can enter the commercial zone. The commercial center, located next to the Golfito airport, where all products are tax-exempt, and therefore at much lower prices than in the rest of the country.

 
In February 2020, the duty-free shopping center announced a special high-tech shopping card meant to track purchases, activated with a fingerprint at the time a shopper enters the duty-free zone.

To obtain the card, the customer must present an ID at the customs post located in the duty-free zone. This will allow buyers to purchase the card the same day they will make their purchases.
 
Also in 2020, the Ministry of Finance announced a new application for the buyer to see in real-time, their purchases. The app will soon be available on the Duty-Free website.

There was also a change in the schedule for the prior registration of customers, which was enabled from Monday to Friday, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Hours slightly differ for Saturdays and Sundays, when customers will be attended from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Additionally, customers can buy as many times as they want without limits. Previous to this change, people were limited to buy at the outlets once every six months.

The following were eliminated: merchandise checkpoints for review and authorization to take the products out of the duty-free zone.

These changes were announced in October 2019 with the plan to start in January 2020. But at the request of the dealers, who must verify the new system and close inventories at the beginning of the year, the new application was rescheduled to start in February. This way customers are guaranteed "a good service to those who visit the duty-free deposit,” Vladimir Villalobos from the ministry said.

It is recommended to verify the duty-free schedule and services improvements  by calling (506) 2775-0496, as part of shopping trip plan.

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Have you visited the Golfito duty-free? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com

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