It is with deep regret that we report the passing of Yngve Bia Pettersson (Yngve Bia), Founder of research and analysis business Generation and a respected, popular and pioneering figure in the travel retail community.
He died on 1 December at the age of 71 and was laid to rest on 12 January in his home town of Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. Yngve is survived by his three children Stella, Alexander and Charlotta. An online obituary from his family spoke of their “great sadness and loss”.
Yngve had been living in Portugal in recent years since divesting his interest in Generation in 2015. He created the business in 1979, providing much-needed statistical quantification and analysis of the duty free & travel retail world.
He developed ‘Best ’n Most’, a widely used guide to the industry, which measured distribution rankings, retail sales worldwide, sales evolution by region and category, and outlined the top-ranked sales locations across the industry. He also pioneered category-specific research programmes for the core categories under the TRIP and TRAQ titles.
Yngve also co-founded The Moodie Report (now The Moodie Davitt Report) with Moodie International in 2002, working closely with Martin Moodie during the title’s early days. Later he played a key role in the creation of another successful travel retail publication, TRBusiness.com (you can read their warm tribute here).
The Contineo Labs/Generation Research business continues to provide valuable research to the sector today, with a much diversified suite of products.
“I had the chance to live for a few weeks in Cascais with Yngve when I joined the industry and got to know different facets of a fascinating man,” said Alex Seret, CEO and Co-owner at Contineo Labs and Generation Research. I will always remember the artist, the visionary and the kind man I met in Portugal. He told and taught me a lot when I was with him. What a fascinating life he had.”
See The Moodie Blog below for a deeply personal farewell from Martin Moodie. Readers can pay their own tributes via the comments platform at the foot of the page. We join with Yngve’s many industry friends and former team members in sending our condolences to his family on the loss of this kind and gentle soul. ✈
Farewell to Yngve Bia, the man who created The Moodie Report Not The Moodie Bia Report nor The Moodie Generation Report, note. Yngve was never one for the spotlight. I would be the frontman, he would be the not so mad (data) scientist. On 16 September 2002, The Moodie Report was born. Six pages. No photos. No frills. And Yngve’s stamp all over it just as much as mine. |
