The concept of a duty free Bermuda will not be allowed to die - if the retail sector has anything to do with the upcoming elections.

Duty Free was part a PLP election pledge, but was abandoned after it was deemed unworkable by the Ministry of Finance. But yesterday the Chamber of Commerce said it still supported a duty free scheme to kick start the Island's economy.

“We hope that the next Government - whoever it may be - will say Duty Free is not dead,” said George Grundmuller, head of the Visitor Retail Division of the Chamber of Commerce. “The concept works well in other islands. It is good for business and gets people to spend more.”

Mr. Grundmuller also said that for his sector to do well once more, it was essential that the tourism industry became vibrant once again - and whichever party came into power, it would be a vital component in their electoral campaign.

“We need a sustained turnaround in tourism,” he said, adding that while figures had been better in the past year, the improvements had to be longer term. “This year was better than last year, but we need the turnaround to be sustained.”

Mr. Grundmuller also said that retailers would like to see tax concessions similar to those given to hoteliers. These include those in the Hotel Concessions Act, which make any improvements to facilities tax free. And he added that a concession in payroll tax for the off season would be welcomed.

“We had a reduced rate for payroll tax following September 11 for a year, and we really appreciated this help,” he said. “And it would be good to get something similar on an on-going basis. It would help to keep staff on all year round and not lay off people in the down season.”

Mr. Grundmuller also said that a reduction on duty on tourist-related merchandise would be a bonus to the sector.

“Tourists know very keenly the prices of comparable merchandise, whether it is on the cruise ships or in other destinations,” he said. “We need to stay very competitive and duty reductions would be very welcome.”

Another bug-bear in the retail sector is the prospect of a compulsory double pay for overtime for workers working more than 40 hours a week. “This affects us as much as it affects other industries,” he said. “Businesses not only open Monday to Friday, but also Saturday. They offer Saturday jobs internally to their employees first, and this would then be classified as overtime.

“If they had to pay overtime, these jobs would not be offered to internal staff as a lot of companies would not be able to pay overtime.”

And he said that the real effect would be that stores would end up taking full time staff from each other - thus avoiding overtime for staff. “As far as I know, retailers do not force people to do overtime,” said Mr. Grundmuller. “This overtime will just become another part time job at the weekend. At the moment it has advantages for the employees that want a second income or job.

“Retail is also seasonal, so extra work in the summer can make up for shorter hours in winter.”