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Alan Bork: “I am phasing out my consulting projects in the travel retail industry to take on new challenges. Whether this means that I am entirely leaving the travel retail industry still remains to be seen.” |
NORDIC MARKETS. At its Annual General Meeting yesterday the Nordic Travel Retail Group welcomed two new board members; Inflight Service Europe CEO Peter Candell and Travel Retail Norway General Manager PÃ¥l Wibe.
At the same time Alan Bork, long-time member of the Board and Chairman of the association for the past three years, resigned from the board.
Bork explained: “It’s with sadness that I am resigning. The reason is that I am phasing out my consulting projects in the travel retail industry to take on new challenges. Whether this means that I am entirely leaving the travel retail industry still remains to be seen. However, it is certain that changes will happen, and because of the uncertainty of my future involvement in the industry, I have found it right to hand over now”.
He continued: “I have been involved in the association since 1996, in the first place fighting for keeping intra-EU duty-free, and later to be part of re-building the association to match a new reality. However, the second part of that journey was the more interesting, from the ultimate low point in early June 1999 after losing the battle for duty free, and to today’s much stronger association reflecting a strong and thriving travel retail industry, and now covering not only Denmark, but the whole of the Nordic region.
The new Chairman is Erik Thomsen, newly appointed Regional Director Northern and Eastern Europe at Maxxium Global Travel Retail.
Thomsen said: “It’s with great pleasure and enthusiasm that I have accepted to become Chairman of the association. The industry is facing a lot of challenges and I have seen how difficult conditions sometimes are for this industry. I truly believe a strong association covering the whole of the Nordic region can make a difference. Together with the rest of the Board I shall look forward to continue the work we have laid down over the past years, and to launch new exciting initiatives for the travel retail industry in the Nordic region”.
In addition to Peter Candell and PÃ¥l Wibe, the board comprises:
– Lars Hjartbo, Purchasing manager, MyTravel Airways A/S,
– Jan Hesdorf, Nordic Duty Free/Travel Retail Sales Manager, Hans Just A/S,
– Lars Münter, Sales Manager, A&E Petersen,
– Henrik Tornager, Manager Onboard Services, Scandlines AG, (alternate)
– Tage Juul Christensen, International Sales Manager – Duty Free & Travel Retail, House of Prince, (alternate)
Alan Bork will continue to act as a representative for the Board until the end of 2005.
Comment: Alan Bork has done an outstanding job at the Nordic Travel Retail Group, helping create one of the most respected annual industry conferences, one prepared to deal honestly and openly with difficult issues. The region’s industry, for so long built on a platform of massive savings over the domestic market, finds itself in a period of profound change and struggling to redefine itself in an era synonymous with tax cuts, an evolving harmonisation between neighbouring countries and extended EU membership.
As Chairman, Alan Bork has tackled these complex subjects head-on, driving new and provocative consumer research last year, for example, that challenged the very way the industry does business. He will be a big loss to the association but, hopefully, not to the industry. He is currently putting together the airport brief for the Trinity Forum in September, in which two teams will construct rival commercial models for a hypothetical new airport, Atea City International.
