Duty-free cash registers ring up the profits on day cruises, but for how long?
Day boat trips to Denmark or Germany are gaining more popularity among the
public. The reason is not quite tourism, but rather the duty-free shops
offering alcohol, cigarettes, perfumes and sweets that are very cheap in
comparison to the prices found in normal high street shops. Some goods can
be bought extremely low prices, for example Grant's whiskey is half its
normal retail price, or Hennessy cognac, which is three times cheaper.
According to Prawo i Gospodarka, these cruises during the season have up to
1.5 million passengers, who spend zl. 45 million. With the price of
promotional day return tickets as low as zl. 2, the ferries are in no danger
of losing their customers, until EU laws come into force and will challenge
such duty-free trips within the Union. (Prawo i Gospodarka, pp. 1, 4) P.W.
