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2018 Summit of the Americas Exhibitor Information Coming Soon
Information about booking exhibit space for the 2018 Duty Free and Travel Retail Summit of the Americas will be available shortly, with applications for space to be due October 13.
The 2018 Summit of the Americas will be held March 18-21 at the Orlando World Center Marriott in Orlando, Florida. In addition to accepting space applications, interested companies will have the chance to request valuable sponsorship opportunities as well.
To make sure you continue to receive the most current information about the 2018 Duty Free and Travel Retail Summit of the Americas, log into the association’s website to verify that we have your correct contact information.
Headlines
News from IAADFS
IAADFS Membership Renewals Were Due July 31, 2017
Industry News
"Windstar: Best Caribbean Cruise Line: Readers' Choice 2017"
"Lotte Duty Free Eyes Pullout from Incheon Airport"
"Non-Flyers Will Have Access to Airmall at Pittsburgh International Airport"
"Greek Shipping Minister Proposes Duty-Free Port for Cruise Tourists"
"Bristol Airport Wants to Bring Back Duty-Free for Europe Trips After Brexit"
"Sri Lanka Awards Contract for BIA Duty Free Shops to Dufry AG"
"Jamaica Tourism Earns US$2 Billion"
"Ontario Airport Board Inks Deal to Improve Shopping Options"
"Liverpool Airport Completes 3 Million Pound Improvement Works"
"Duty-Free Shops to Open in the Immediate Arrival Area of Narita Airport's Terminal 2"
"Mumbai Airport to Host Helios' First Travel Retail Store in India"
"Airports Are Leading the Rally in Chinese Stocks"
News from IAADFS
IAADFS Membership Renewals Were Due July 31, 2017
IAADFS thanks the many association members who have renewed their memberships for the 2017-2018 membership period covering July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018. Your support of IAADFS allows the association to continue advancing the interests of IAADFS members and the industry as a whole through advocacy and other activities.
For those IAADFS members that have not yet renewed their membership, we encourage you to do so as soon as possible since the renewal deadline was July 31, 2017. It’s not too late to renew, and your membership renewal will ensure that your company representatives continue to receive regular updates from IAADFS and availability of your company’s profile information in our online membership directory, brand profile, and store finder.
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Industry News
Windstar: Best Caribbean Cruise Line: Readers' Choice 2017
Caribbean Journal (09/03/2017)
Windstar Cruises has been named the Best Caribbean Cruise Line by the Caribbean Journal's 2017 Readers' Choice Awards. The luxury small-ship cruise line received the most votes from the journal's more than 100,000 daily email subscribers and more than 500,000 unique visitors per month. Windstar operates a fleet of six luxury "yachts" with no ship larger than 310 guests, with itineraries across the Caribbean region.
Lotte Duty Free Eyes Pullout from Incheon Airport
Korea Herald (09/04/17)
Lotte Duty Free is considering an exit from Incheon International Airport amid challenges in the local duty-free industry. South Korea's top duty-free operator is considering the move following a Chinese ban on selling package tours to South Korea in retaliation over the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery. The move hit South Korea's duty-free industry hard, given that Chinese tourists accounted for close to 47 percent of all tourists to the country in 2016. "Lotte Duty Free is carefully weighing an option to drop its business at Incheon International Airport unless Incheon International Airport Corp. slashes rent substantially," a senior company official said. "We have been consistently demanding a rent cut." The official indicated that Lotte Duty Free cannot pay rent for the remaining period of a five-year contract due to significant changes in the business climate, including a decline in the number of Chinese tourists. Lotte has been operating a duty-free shop at Incheon International Airport because of its symbolic status as the nation's main gateway, though it has been unprofitable. Industry watchers believe other industry players may follow suit; Hanwha Galleria, a retail unit of Hanwha Group, has already decided to close its duty-free shop at Jeju International Airport.
Non-Flyers Will Have Access to Airmall at Pittsburgh International Airport
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (08/28/17) Belko, Mark
Starting on Sept. 5, families will be able to bid goodbye to loved ones right at the gate at Pittsburgh International Airport, and shoppers can browse the retailers in the Airmall without a plane ticket in hand. For the first time in 16 years, non-flyers will have access to the airport's airside building on weekdays under a pilot program dubbed "myPITpass." Pittsburgh International will be first airport in the country to allow people without tickets to gain access to the boarding terminal. Except on rare occasions, non-flyers have not had access to the airside building or its award-winning mall-like collection of shops and restaurants since the 2001 terrorist attacks. Non-flyers must show a valid photo ID, like a driver's license or passport, and their names will be checked against a no-fly list before the one-day pass is issued. All non-flyers will have to pass through the security checkpoint and will be subject to the same searches and restrictions as ticketed passengers. Pittsburgh International will limit the program to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays at its start but eventually hopes to expand it. If lines at the security checkpoint get to be too long, fliers will be given priority. Ben Zandi, president and CEO of Fraport USA, which operates the airport concessions, said the Airmall shops and restaurants, hit hard when US Airways closed its Pittsburgh hub in 2004, have seen sales improve 100 percent during the special holiday access programs in the past. He is optimistic about the prospects ahead. "I'm not sure we can put our arms around a number but I'm hopeful it is going to be very positive," he said.
Greek Shipping Minister Proposes Duty-Free Port for Cruise Tourists
GreekReporter.com (08/30/17) Chrysopoulos, Philip
Greece's Minister of Shipping and Island Policy, Panagiotis Kouroumblis, believes a port offering duty-free shopping to cruise ship tourists would bolster the Greek economy. In a recent interview, he said, "People who choose to be entertained going on a sea cruise, they always have in their minds to go to a tax-free port." He said he would discuss the idea with the finance minister, citing revenues lost in Turkey and Egypt related to terrorist attacks and general political instability. "Since Turkey and Egypt are now out of the cruise packages, we have to look for and offer a substitute," he remarked.
Bristol Airport Wants to Bring Back Duty-Free for Europe Trips After Brexit
Bristol Post (09/01/17) Daly, Patrick
Jack Lopresti, MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke, is one of 40 MPs interested in a return of duty-free sales for European travel after Brexit, and Bristol Airport agrees. Lopresti and the others have issued a letter calling for duty-free alcohol, cigarettes, and other goods to be available once again at the country's ports and airports. EU single market trading rules meant that in 1999, those traveling within the European Union would no longer be entitled to buy goods with the VAT — a 20 percent tax — and most other taxes removed. The letter stated to Chancellor Philip Hammond that regional airports would receive "a substantial benefit" if duty-free was once again applied to travel to EU countries. Lopresti said extra profits from duty-free would allow operators, like Bristol Airport, to reinvest the money into improvements for all travelers. "It is important to secure duty-free sales at our airports after Brexit due to the economic lift they give to our region's transport operators," he said. "The incentive of purchasing goods encourages passengers to arrive at the airport with ample time to browse the shops. We need to support our region's travel operators by keeping duty-free sales, which gives them cash flow to invest back into our airports to the benefit of passengers." The owners of Bristol's airport believe Parliament should change the VAT and duty regulations before Brexit so that the United Kingdom gives air passengers a fair deal.
Sri Lanka Awards Contract for BIA Duty Free Shops to Dufry AG
Lanka Business Online (08/23/17)
Sri Lanka's cabinet has approved a proposal by Transport Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva to award the second contract for the operation of duty-free shops in No. 1 passenger terminal at Bandaranaike International Airport for the next five years to Dufry AG of Switzerland. Dufry operates about 2,200 duty-free and duty-paid shops in airports, cruise lines, seaports, railway stations, and central tourist areas in more than 60 countries. The initial core category duty-free tender was awarded to Flemingo Duty Free. The airport handled 9.47 million international passengers last year, and the new terminal is slated to open by 2020.
Jamaica Tourism Earns US$2 Billion
Caribbean News Now! (09/01/17)
Jamaica Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett announced that the country earned US$2 billion from January through August from 2.8 million visitors, up 8.3 percent in gross foreign exchange earnings from US$1.83 billion during the same period last year. Cruise arrivals jumped 5.1 percent year-over-year. "My mission is to enhance the retention of the dollar from this US$2 billion. In fact, the latest report from the World Travel & Tourism Council indicates that the retention of the dollar, from the consumption side has risen to 70 percent. The Tourism Linkages Council is going to drive that value added that is needed to take the retention levels in Jamaica from 30 cents to at least 50 cents, for the total dollar that is spent," said Bartlett. He added that direct contribution from tourism to the GDP at the moment is 8.4 percent, but the induced and indirect contribution is now 27.2 percent. The tourism sector directly employs 106,000 Jamaicans while generating indirect jobs for one in four persons, linked to agriculture, creative and cultural industries, manufacturing, construction, and other sectors. Bartlett also reported that, based on EXIM Bank data, 28 completed applications have been received under the year-old TEF/EXIM Bank Small Medium Tourism Enterprises Loan Facility as of Aug. 29, totaling J$509.9 million. "The impact of building these underpinnings is creating greater expenditures — that is, the tourist is spending more in the country because we have more to offer them. It is important to note that building the capacity to provide more of what the tourists require when they get here is to build out the production and enable the consumption patterns of the tourist, to favor the retention of the dollar in our destination," he said.
Ontario Airport Board Inks Deal to Improve Shopping Options
San Gabriel Valley Tribune (CA) (08/23/17) Marquez, Liset
Hudson Group has entered into an eight-year nonexclusive agreement that will allow the Ontario (Calif.) International Airport Authority to take over any concession stand and bring in a new operator. The company previously had an exclusive agreement, meaning it operated all the news, gift, and retail shops in the terminals. Airport Authority CEO Mark Thorpe said it has become difficult for Hudson Group to keep all the concession stands open given double-digit declines in passenger traffic, but the new agreement means the authority can take over and find a new vendor when Hudson Group decides not to reopen a stand. "For us, it's really positive all the way around. It's a continued relationship with what's been a strong partnership for many years," said Thorpe. "At the same time, we have a much stronger commitment, revenue-wise, from Hudson." After the $2.4 million remodel of the airport's retail shops, the new stores will include Hudson, Tech on the Go, and Ink by Hudson, as well as Daily News, Ontario Provisions, and Cali Market.
Liverpool Airport Completes 3 Million Pound Improvement Works
Business Traveller (09/01/2017) Caswell, Mark
Liverpool John Lennon airport has completed the latest phase of improvements, with almost 3 million pounds invested over the last nine months. Brands including Dixons and Accessorize have opened new retail stores, and several new food and beverage outlets have been opened as well. Around 2,000 square meters of space on the upper floor of the airport departures lounge has been refurbished and upgraded, and another 2 million pounds has been earmarked for further terminal improvements later this year, including a redesign and expansion of the existing World Duty Free shop. Lucy O'Shaughnessy, Liverpool John Lennon airport's commercial director, said, "Previous investments in a number of passenger facilities at the Airport have seen our customer satisfaction levels reach an all-time high. We believe these latest improvements have created a real 'wow factor' for passengers as we welcome them into the Departure Lounge, building on existing positive passenger feedback, and further enhancing the customer experience."
Duty-Free Shops to Open in the Immediate Arrival Area of Narita Airport's Terminal 2
Rocket News (08/28/17) Rogers, Krista
Narita International Airport has become the first airport in Japan to open duty-free shops in the immediate arrival area. This means travelers to Japan can shop duty-free before passing through the medical inspection/quarantine area or immigration. Fa-So-La Arrival Duty Free north opened on Sept. 1, while Fa-So-La Arrival Duty Free South opened on Sept. 4. Both shops are managed by the NAA Retailing Corporation and located on the second floor of the main building of Terminal 2. Their merchandise is limited to imported liquor and tobacco products. By the end of the year, duty-free shops will open in the arrival areas of Terminals 1 and 3.
Mumbai Airport to Host Helios' First Travel Retail Store in India
International Airport Review (08/21/17)
Terminal 1 of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) is hosting luxury watch brand Helios' first airport store in India, administered by GVK Mumbai International Airport Private Limited (MIAL). The brand was prompted to enter the travel retail arena by Mumbai Airport's expansive retail space and high number of passenger footfalls. CSIA has debuted more than 30 brands in the past few years, including Adidas, Lacoste, Fossil, and Delsey. GVK MIAL operates more than 150 outlets.
Airports Are Leading the Rally in Chinese Stocks
Bloomberg (08/18/17) Janes, Andrew
Equity investors are increasingly interested in Chinese airports, which are enjoying a surge in international and domestic travel. The airports have experienced an increase in domestic traffic, landing fees, and double the commissions charged to duty-free operators. Even as their shares gain, they are still undervalued as the market has underestimated the impact from the new duty-free contracts, which do not take effect until late this year, according to Nick Langley, co-chief investment officer at RARE Infrastructure. "It's our view that the earnings growth will be reasonably substantial for the next few years and we don't believe the market has priced that in today," said Sydney-based Langley, who recently has been adding to his holdings of Chinese airports. "We're expecting pretty substantial upsides in share prices, even from here." Chinese regulators have allowed airports to run open tenders this year for duty-free concessions. Under new agreements finalized in June, operators at Beijing airport will share almost half of their sales with the airport operator, compared with about 20 percent earlier. The concessions also have increased by a similar magnitude at Guangzhou airport, while leases for Shanghai are not expected to be renegotiated until 2019. In addition to the revenue bump for the airports, the new market-based approach will drive a more commercial mindset from duty-free operators that should lead to better retail offerings, said Langley.
Abstract News © Copyright 2017 INFORMATION, INC.
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