SWITZERLAND. A high-quality panel of industry leaders thrust travel retail into the spotlight at Davos this week as The Moodie Davitt Report convened a special session in the Swiss town to discuss the sector’s present and future.
The discussion, titled ‘Navigating change in an uncertain and AI-driven world’, brought together Avolta CEO Xavier Rossinyol, Zurich Airport Chief Commercial Officer Stefan Gross, PMI Global Travel Retail Vice President Beste Ermaner and Mondelez World Travel Retail Vice President and Managing Director Joost Rosmuller.
The Moodie Davitt Report President Dermot Davitt chaired the session at the Stall Valär Restaurant in Davos Platz on Monday (in the same week as the World Economic Forum took place in Davos), with representatives from the investor community, brand owners and concessionaires in the audience. Filmed highlights plus an extended feature will follow soon.
The speakers addressed how their organisations are navigating a path through global macro-economic and geopolitical uncertainty, assessed emerging consumer demands, focused on collaboration, data-sharing and partnership, and examined the influence of AI on the sector. They also cast a light on travel retail’s place within the global travel & tourism economy.
Addressing the industry’s status today, Beste Ermaner hailed the business as resilient, noting four key factors that will influence the future: the impact of macroeconomic challenges; geopolitical instability; changing expectations among travellers plus digital disruption.
She added, “We see opportunities ahead too. The traditional growth model in travel retail is coming to an end. The traveller is becoming more intentional and more informed. Collectively we need to work together to shape the future and turn these challenges into opportunities.”
Of the big picture, Xavier Rossinyol said, “Everything is moving faster. So if you want to do things in one-tenth of the time you need to be better organised, you need better technology, but if you do the right things it’s a huge opportunity.
“What we know is that people will keep travelling. They want different things. They want speed and they want digital alongside the personal touch; they want local and global, they want sustainability and they want good prices. They want everything and the only way to give them everything is to be much faster.
“Here, data is vital and using that data in collaboration with all of our partners is what we need not only to survive but to thrive. If we get that right, we can double the size of the industry in the next ten years.”
On managing change, Stefan Gross said, “One big thing I am excited about is how we are seeing a big change in how people travel through the airport, a change created by technology.
“I see a future where going through the airport is more frictionless and not quite as annoying as it sometimes can be. And that brings opportunities, giving time back to people for their journey and for experiences. We see momentum behind this now, with the new technologies.”
He said that the idea of what an airport should be is changing. “The old model was about driving volume and processing passengers, now it is about quality.
“For my industry colleagues here what is important is that you have good infrastructure, connectivity, a good nationality mix with high spending power, and that you offer those people a good experience.”
Taking the Mondelez view of travel retail, Joost Rosmuller pointed to one major factor in the industry’s favour.
“With passenger numbers set to double in the next 15 years, what we have that domestic does not is more and more people coming through. That is the biggest tailwind that you can imagine, despite all the challenges and the tensions we see in the world.
“What we could focus on more as an industry, together with our partners, is psychology and consumer behaviour. We often look at the outcome of behaviour as a sales number, a penetration number or a transaction and that is tremendously important.
“But we need to understand traveller behaviour along the journey better. We have some of those insights through our Destination: Value project, but still we are just scratching the surface on traveller behaviour, motivations, the context in which people travel and what makes them comfortable or happy.
“If we can understand this and share those insights among brands, airports and retailers, we can grow the cake.”
*A full report on the session, including film, will follow soon. ✈
**This panel was curated and hosted with the support of Philip Morris International.
