INTERNATIONAL. The Duty Free World Council (DFWC) has urged industry support for its Economic Impact Study, after a “disappointing” response to initial requests for financial and employment data for its survey.
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Frank O’Connell: A “disappointing” response to calls for industry data |
President Frank O’Connell said the DFWC planned to repeat the survey in the coming weeks and encouraged companies to respond positively. This would help provide the body with the data necessary to underpin arguments that duty free & travel retail is an essential generator of revenue for the aviation and travel industries and a significant source of employment and economic activity.
Separately, at last month’s DFWC meeting in Orlando, Christine Martin of TRT outlined progress on the concept of a DFWC Academy. The Council noted the broad support for the initiative across the industry and agreed to commence work on gaining academic accreditation for some initial industry training courses. It will also open discussions with a number of universities on establishing tailored duty free and travel retail focused post graduate degree opportunities with a view to setting up a fledgling DFWC Academy hopefully by the end of the year.
DFWC President Frank O’Connell commented: “˜Nearly 70 companies from a broad cross-section of the industry have shared employment and training activities data and have shown strong interest in developing programmes linked to a globally recognised academic framework that would enable individuals realise their potential and progress within our industry.
“While we are delighted with the feedback we have received regarding the DFWC Academy, there is much still to do to ensure that the Economic Impact Study is the authoritative statement on the value of our global industry. We urge all companies to respond positively to the upcoming survey and to provide us with the information we need to defend our industry more effectively.”
The Council also noted that registration of the name and logo of the DFWC is underway and that the catalogue of resources available from the Industry Library and Resource Centre will shortly be available online through the Council’s website at www.dfworldcouncil.com.
To contribute research reports, books, papers or any relevant archival materials to the DFWC Library, or for further information on the Council’s activities, please contact K. Goyal at kshitij.goyal@dfworldcouncil.com
