PHILIPPINES. The Moodie Report is proud to unveil the digital edition of ‘Duty Free Philippines 25 Years – Aquino to Aquino’, our special coffee table book publication that celebrates the travel retailer’s 25th anniversary.
The book chronicles the state-owned retailer’s history and includes extensive interviews with current and previous management, employees and business partners. It also includes welcome messages from Philippines President Benigno S. Aquino III, Department of Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr and other senior political figures.
The book was written and edited by The Moodie Report Founder & Chairman Martin Moodie with great assistance from the Duty Free Philippines ‘Coffee Table Book Committee’. It was launched to DFP management and staff last week in Manila and to the travel retail industry in Singapore last evening.
Its trade launch, during the TFWA Asia Pacific show, was part of a triple celebration. Irish company Global Travel Retail Sales also unveiled Guimaras chocolates (named after an island province of the Philippines), born out of an idea of Duty Free Philippines Chief Operating Officer Lorenzo ‘Enchong’ Formoso to create a ‘taste of the Philippines’. The chocolate truffles come in sweet mango and chilli mango flavours. It is targeted at the millions of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), both on departure from the Philippines and on their return as a Pasalubong (the Filipino tradition of a homecoming gift) item.
The third launch was that of VuQo vodka, a coconut-flavoured vodka produced by US-based Filipino businessman Rich Cabael. The brand is already well established in nine US states but now makes its travel retail debut through Duty Free Philippines.
 |
Lorenzo ‘Enchong’ Formoso welcomes guests last night to a night of nostalgia and celebration |
 |
Multiple celebration: (Left to right) Martin Moodie, David Spillane, Rich Cabael and Lorenzo ‘Enchong’ Formoso |
In the Publisher’s introduction to ‘Duty Free Philippines 25 Years – Aquino to Aquino’, Martin Moodie notes: “Shortly before he died, the founder of our industry, Dr Brendan O’Regan (who created the world’s first airport duty free shop in Shannon Airport, Ireland, in 1947) told me that he saw airports as a cross-roads of humanity, a place where people of all ages, cultures and religions converged.
“It was a deft analogy, and one I think of whenever I am at Ninoy Aquino International Airport. There, as we comment on frequently in this book, one cannot help but be touched by the alternating emotions of the Arrival and Departure halls. Reunions. Farewells. Joy, Sadness. Humanity stripped bare.
“What sets Duty Free Philippines apart from any other travel retailer on the planet is the way it has forged a bond with the emotions of its consumers. As Chief Operating Officer Lorenzo ‘Enchong’ Formoso says so eloquently in his interview, “We’re proud of being able to make people happy.”
“It’s done that, not just through a unique post-Arrival shopping model, but just as critically through a palpable sense of serving the consumer and the country. Talk to the men and women of Duty Free Philippines as I have during my research for this book and you will hear time and again of the pleasure they get from serving the ‘heroes’ that are the Overseas Filipino Worker and balikbayan sectors.
 |
The Moodie Report Founder & Chairman Martin Moodie authored the book and was Emcee for the evening |
 |
Global Travel Retail Sales Director David Spillance announces the launch of Guimaras chocolates |
“You’ll also get a deep sense of family. This is an organisation that was born out of revolution, which has enjoyed the euphoria of success, battled through traumas, and emerged with spirit intact and ambition burning brightly as it celebrates 25 momentous years. All that time, its people – memorably symbolised in ‘The Hands that Built Duty Free Philippines’ image on page 45 – have been the collective, beating heart of the Corporation.”
 |
VuQo is the world’s only coconut-flavoured vodka |
 |
Guimaras offers ‘a taste of the Philippines’ in two flavour variants |
 |
DFP management, sub-concessionaires and business partners enjoyed an evening of camaraderie |
 |
