UAE. The annual Middle East & Duty Free Association (MEADFA) Conference is taking place in Abu Dhabi this week (17-19 November) and The Moodie Davitt Report, through Founder & Chairman Martin Moodie and President Dermot Davitt, is on location to bring you highlights of the event.
Davitt is co-moderating the conference alongside Michele Miranda, Conference Director at Tax Free World Association (TFWA), which manages the event for MEADFA. Look out for our more detailed report in coming weeks.
19 NOVEMBER
As the event closes, MEADFA President Sherif Toulan says: “As we gather here in Abu Dhabi, we are reminded of the strength and resilience of our region and the duty-free industry. This week, we have honoured the legacies of industry pioneers and celebrated the remarkable achievements of our partners for their outstanding contributions to our industry.
“Despite the challenges we face, I am confident that our collective efforts will continue to shape a bright and prosperous future for the Middle East and Africa.”
“The MEADFA Conference allows delegates to discover the vast opportunities offered by the rapidly evolving region of the Middle East and Africa. I am very pleased for TFWA to be supporting this important event in the duty-free and travel retail calendar,” says TFWA President Erik Juul-Mortensen.
To close the day, an inspirational keynote from GHARAGE Managing Director Lennard Niemann (below), who assesses the future of travel retail in an era of AI. A provocative, enticing, ‘imagine if’ view of our collective future, it provides a rousing finish to MEADFA 2024. More on this to follow.
Avolta Head Global Operational Excellence Alec Denby (below left) and ISC-CX Client Services Director Florian Wimmer give a detailed and valuable analysis of how mystery shopping can be used to improve operational excellence, ensuring high standards of engagement and lifting customer satisfaction.
The concluding day of the MEADFA Conference begins with a deeply thought-provoking presentation by Frank Cortes, Director of Public and Commercial Venue Management of King Salman International Airport in Saudi Arabia, a PIF company that ranks as one of the world’s most exciting airport developments.
Cortes challenges the status-quo thinking of airports and their “safe, predictable, controllable” outlook and ultimate commercial offer. King Salman International Airport is seeking the antithesis of that sameness, he says in an admirably refreshing address.
Look out for our full report coming soon and our on-location coverage from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia next month.
18 NOVEMBER
GALA DINNER AND MEADFA AWARDS
Avolta certainly found a winning formula with its choice of venue for the MEADFA Conference Gala Dinner, hosted at the Yas Marina Circuit, home to the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (5-8 December).
The annual MEADFA Awards highlighted a superb evening.
ForwardKeys Vice President of Brands, Retailers and Media Marina Giuliano is the final speaker of the day, delivering an overview of current passenger number trends both regionally and globally. As the charts below reveal, the numbers offer plenty of food for thought but overall much positivity.
A key session kicks off the post-coffee break programme on day 1 of the MEADFA Conference 2024. The discussion (pictured below), moderated by John Rimmer, presents a critical update on the issues the industry must address to safeguard its growth in the Middle East & Africa.
It features Rob Marriott (shown at podium), Chair of the MEADFA Advocacy Group and Aer Rianta International Middle East Chief Executive, along with committee members (from right) Rania Abou Hussein (Mars), Chichi Maponya (Africa Travel Retail), Roger Jackson (Organico Solutions), Banu Ekşi (PMI) and Duty-Free World Council President Sarah Branquinho.
“The challenges we face as an industry are not going away, in fact they are growing more serious,” Marriott warns.
“We are so much stronger together as an industry than standing alone,” he adds in a call for cross-sector unity and proactiveness.
Branquinho provides a comprehensive global context and offers a hard-hitting call for a unified pan-industry approach to defend travel retail against efforts to paint the duty-free sector as a source of illicit tobacco trade and other related challenges. “The stakes could not be higher,” she says.
Eksi refers to the growing trend towards banning (or severely curbing) tobacco allowances on arrival, pointing out that such measures affect departures sales elsewhere as a direct knock-on effect. “If I am flying from Abu Dhabi to Oslo, for example, I am not going to buy duty free on departure,” she says.
{Elena Sorlini’s session culminated in this thrilling video, released earlier this year when the Zayed International branding was revealed. Leading drone light show company Skymagic created a three-dimensional A380 plane formed from 1,750 drones on the North Runway to celebrate the renaming of Zayed International Airport. The film portrays how a falcon takes flight across the Abu Dhabi skies and then, via a swarm of drones, is transformed into Etihad Flight 09, before touching down at the airport.}
“It is a great pleasure to see so many friends and business partners gathered here this week; indeed, this is the largest attendance to our annual conference in nearly ten years,” said MEADFA President Sherif Toulan in his opening address.
“That fact is testimony to the continued importance of our region to the global duty free and travel retail industry, but it is also a tribute to our official hosts this week, Abu Dhabi Airports.
“I hope that all of you will have the opportunity this week to visit the new Zayed International Airport. The stunning architecture is matched by a retail and food & beverage offer that is rich in choice and in local flavour. My sincere congratulations to [Abu Dhabi Airports CEO and Managing Director] Elena Sorlini and her team, and to all those companies who have worked so hard to deliver a world-class terminal in every sense.”
After paying tribute to the long-time Dubai Duty Free executive leader Colm McLoughlin (see below), Toulan referred to the current Middle East crisis.
“We cannot ignore that our region is once again the scene of a conflict that has taken thousands of lives, destroyed livelihoods and threatened the prospects of a generation of young people,” he commented.
“Our thoughts are especially with our colleagues in the travel retail industry who have been affected by the conflict. At such uncertain times, when peace seems such a long way off, it is easy to be pessimistic about the future for our region, and our industry within it.”
“I, and I hope most if not all of you, take the opposite view. Our market in the Middle East possesses qualities and charcteristics that have made it one of the global industry’s success stories.
“Our geographic location makes us a crossroads between east and west and, as such, home to some of the most dynamic airline companies in the world. Here, we have seen investment in airports that is unmatched by any other region.
“And, over the decades since a group of pioneers saw the potential in duty free and travel retail in the Middle East back in the 1980s, together we have confronted challenge after challenge to create a retail market that is an integral part of the traveller’s journey.
“Nowhere is the ‘duty free brand’ stronger than here in the Middle East.
“Current market developments give me every confidence that our brand can only grow stronger. A central theme at our conference this week will be the transformation of the travel and tourism market in Saudi Arabia, so often referred to as the ‘sleeping giant’ of our regional industry.
“The emergence of the duty free retail sector in the Kingdom will certainly stimulate competition in the Middle East, and such competition is healthy if it pushes us to improve the traveller’s experience wherever we operate.”
17 NOVEMBER
Aer Rianta International Middle East hosted the traditional Welcome Cocktail this evening in balmy conditions waterside at the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr hotel.
Many of the anticipated 600 MEADFA delegates enjoyed drinks and canapés in a pleasant outdoor setting before the annual event gets down to business tomorrow.
