AUSTRALASIA. A high-powered speaker panel at the upcoming Australian Airports Association (AAA) Airport Retail & Commercial Forum (17-19 July) will discuss how growth in the duty free channel can be accelerated across the Pacific region. They include representatives from Melbourne Airport, Lotte Duty Free Oceania, Diageo Global Travel and The Estée Lauder Companies.
Organised by a partnership between the AAA, The Mercurius Group and The Moodie Davitt Report, the Forum brings together all the key players in the airport non-aeronautical commercial sector. These include airports from Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, duty free and specialty retailers, food & beverage (F&B) operators, foreign exchange operators, advertising concessionaires, ground transport providers and various advisers and suppliers.
According to estimates by The Mercurius Group, in 2019 duty free sales at airports across Australia and New Zealand reached around A$1.3 billion (US$860 million), not including off-airport channels such as Sealed Bag and Tourist Refund Scheme sales in Australia and Collection Point Sales in New Zealand. This makes duty free by far the biggest – and commercially most important – part of international airports’ commercial portfolios.
While the importance of duty free varies by scale of airport, there are currently 13 airports across Australia and New Zealand that offer duty free, with an additional dive regional airports in Australia looking to join them as they expand into the international travel market.
Speakers on the duty free panel include:
• Melbourne Airport Head of Retail and Asset Management Aaron Gupta
• Lotte Duty Free Oceania Chief Executive Officer and Director Steve Timms
• Diageo Global Travel Commercial Director Asia, Middle East and India Sandra Tassilly,
• The Estée Lauder Companies Regional Director, Travel Retail Oceania Maik Nimrich
Melbourne Airport – one of the top three duty free locations in the Pacific region – recently completed its duty free tender and was the first major airport in the region to take this concession to market post-COVID. Lotte Duty Free Oceania, which won the duty free contract, also joins the panel.
Representatives of two of the world’s largest and most influential brand companies in travel retail, Diageo and The Estée Lauder Companies, are also confirmed for the session.
AAA Chief Executive James Goodwin said: “The duty free panel will benefit a number of members highlighting an important conversation about duty free opportunities at airports. Larger airports will particularly benefit but as more airports open up to international travel, duty free options are also on the radar of regional airports including Cairns, Darwin, Avalon and aspirational international airports such as Canberra, Hobart, Newcastle and Sunshine Coast.”
The Mercurius Group Managing Director Ivo Favotto said: “The duty free market in the Pacific region has had it challenges over the years with achieving both growth in passenger spends and profitability for operators while adapting to growing restrictions on tobacco, the rise of beauty and dealing with the importance of Chinese customers.
“After many years of dominance by Nuance (now Dufry), the market is at its most fragmented with four main operators in the region (Dufry, Heinemann, Lagardere AWPL and Lotte) while DFS is also challenging for selected airport concessions (on top of its downtown duty free operations). Aer Rianta International is set to leave the region – hopefully temporarily – after the consolidation of the Auckland duty free concession in favour of Lagardere AWPL. This competition is good for airports – and probably for brand owners too.”
The Moodie Davitt Report President Dermot Davitt said: “Adopting a Trinity perspective to this panel – which includes airports, retailers and brand owners – as we have done at other Forums around the world, allows us to get as many perspectives as possible on how to grow sales in the Pacific region. This should foster great discussion and debate.”
As reported, the major duty free retailers in Australia and New Zealand have all agreed to support sponsorship of the second Australian Airports Association Retail & Commercial Forum.
Delegate registration to attend the Forum is now open via the AAA website (click on this link).
For further comment or details on the event and for Australasian sponsorship opportunities, please contact:
Ivo Favotto
The Mercurius Group
ifavotto@themercuriusgroup.com
+61 423564057
For international brand sponsorship opportunities please contact:
Irene Revilla: Irene@MoodieDavittReport.com
Sarah Genest: Sarah@MoodieDavittReport.com
Aran Turner: Aran@MoodieDavittReport.com ✈
