20 January
More travel retail and aviation leaders are leading from the front in championing the vital role of vaccines in defeating the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dubai Duty Free Executive Vice Chairman and CEO Colm McLoughlin and wife Breeda had their second shots of the Pfizer and BioNTech variant yesterday. All the senior management at Dubai Duty Free have followed suit (or are about to). McLoughlin praised the UAE authorities for the remarkable speed with which they have rolled out vaccines.
And in a LinkedIn post, AirAsia Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes wrote: “This is the beginning of the road to recovery. Singapore and Indonesia starting. Malaysia Thailand and Phillipines soon. So a great start to 2021. I’m looking forward to getting a vaccination ASAP. To those who are worried, we need not worry about the flu jab or polio etc [i.e. so no need to worry here]. While we are waiting, stay safe and practice good public health. We all have to live with COVID. And we must, soon after the last lockdowns, get on with life.”
16 January
First Israel and now the UAE. Given the recent historic opening of links (including travel) between the two countries, it is fitting that we follow our first photo of an Israel-based travel retail executive having had his vaccination shot, with that of a Dubai-based industry figure.
In this case it is Patrick Dorais, Sales Director at Al Nassma Chocolate in Dubai, producer of one of our industry’s most distinctive products, camel milk chocolate.
As an industry, we need to champion vaccinations with a fervour. Alone they will not be the panacea to the sector’s problems (we still need a coherent multi-lateral approach to testing ) but they will make a tremendous difference. If we are not to be the ambassadors of vaccinations, who will be?
So let’s be out front. Get your jab – and send us your photo. A shot in the arm for travel retail (or for aviation, or tourism, or cruiselines, whatever your desired variation). The movement starts here.
14 January
Today’s choice of image features Ian Kay, Chief Operations Officer at AirTraffix in Israel.
AirTraffix enables airlines and OTAs to grow revenues from shopping without having to be shopkeepers and directs relevant high-quality consumer traffic to a global network of online travel retail marketplaces.
Importantly, it’s also a platform designed to connect members of the travel industry as collaborators when they traditionally viewed themselves as competitors – in the process acting as an independent, trusted intermediary promoting transparency, accountability and mutual profit.
And collaboration is precisely what is required among all stakeholders in the aviation, tourism and travel retail communities as we embrace the roll-out of multiple vaccines around the world and the huge boost they are certain to bring to the largely moribund travel sector.
Given the subject matter, a far more apposite phrase than ‘huge boost’ is ‘A shot in the arm’, as Ian points out in a well-received post on LinkedIn.
“A shot in the arm is an expression we use to mean a boost or a stimulus. Delighted to have taken this photo yesterday thanks to those lovely people at Pfizer and the pace of our vaccination programme in Israel,” he writes. “Second shot booked in a fortnight and then looking forward to receiving my Green Passport, taking regular flights again and helping to re-vitalise travel retail with the AirTraffix team.”
Israel is vaccinating its population at a faster rate than any other country in the world. Health providers are administering at least 200,000 shots a day. As of last Sunday 1,817,000 people had been vaccinated out of a population of 9.29 million, according to The Times of Israel.
