Sri Lanka’s first downtown Duty Free store is slated to be opened in April 2024, at the Colombo Port City.
The Belt and Road Initiative Sri Lanka (BRISL) stated that the Colombo Port City duty-free shop will be opened in April.
In October 2023, the Sri Lankan government gazetted the requirements that need to be met to conduct duty-free retail business operations or duty-free shopping mall operations at the Colombo Port City.
According to the relevant gazette, published by President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as the Minister of Investment Promotion, an investor is required to devote a minimum of USD 5 million to run a duty-free retail business and have international-level experience in duty-free trade operations, while an investor needs to devote at least USD 7 million to run a duty-free shopping mall business.
In May 2023, Singapore-owned One World Duty-Free and the Colombo Port City signed two agreements to operate Sri Lanka’s first downtown Duty-Free store.