ASIA. The Asia Duty Free Association was born at the TFWA Asia Pacific show in Singapore this week.
Around sixty individuals from the Asia Pacific region attended the meeting to learn more about proposals to form a regional representative association. This would help unite the many voices of the industry in Asia under one banner.
TFWA president Erik Juul-Mortensen said that TFWA had been approached by many companies in Asia who wanted the association to help them establish a representative organisation.
The new organisation would fill a gap which currently exists in the framework of the newly-established Duty Free World Council, according Aer Rianta International director of retail Frank O’Connell. This global structure, covering the Americas, Europe, Middle East & Africa, unites a fragmented industry and presents a public response on global issues such as currency changes and the current threat to duty free sales of tobacco, he said.
O’Connell urged Asia to take a full and active part in this global organisation. His message was reinforced by The Nuance Group director business development & corporate relations Asia Pacific Christian Strang who said that having a duty free association in Japan and one in Australia was not enough.
Strang called on brands, retailers, operators, airports and associations and anyone else with a genuine interest in the industry to “step up to the plate” and take ownership of an association for the region.
A working party was formed to oversee the creation of the association. It includes Sunil Tuli, general manager merchandise & operations, King Power Group; Rakhita Jayawardena, president of Centaur Travel Retail in Sri Lanka; Joel Lafon, travel retail director Asia Pacific, Maxxium; Takaaki Iwamatsu, deputy vice-president of JATCO; Christian Strang and TFWA CEO Andrew Ford.
The working party will put together proposals for the future structure of the association, its objectives and any necessary funding.
