While Scotch brands are having to work harder to convert Asian travellers, Indian whiskies are thriving at home airports and eyeing overseas expansion, writes Joe Bates.
An in-depth industry briefing last month spelt out the disastrous impact of the Iran war on the region’s duty free business. Thousands of miles away in the Dominican Republic, delegates to last month’s ASUTIL Conference were presented with a much more upbeat regional picture, writes Joe Bates…
The price of jet fuel remains stubbornly high as the fallout from the protracted Persian Gulf crisis continues to impact a travel retail business helpless in the face of geopolitical volatility, writes Joe Bates…
As the duty free industry heads to Singapore this month to attend the TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition (May 10-14), the region appears relatively well placed to weather the shocks of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Asia is not immune to higher ticket prices due to soaring jet fuel costs, of course, and intercontinental traffic between Asia and Europe has dropped considerably due to…
Only three months ago, Dubai Duty Free (DDF), the world’s largest single airport travel retailer, announced record 2025 sales of $2.378bn. It was truly a spectacular year-on-year performance that outshone passenger traffic growth at Dubai Airport (DXB) by 5%. With sales of over $290m, liquor played a huge part in the UAE-based operator’s success story, accounting for more than 12% of its overall turnover. After…
If the Year of the Snake didn’t exactly hiss for travel retail in 2025, the Year of the Horse is certainly cantering along nicely within China. As the first quarter of 2026 draws to a close, the mood music around the pivotal Chinese duty free market is brightening rapidly after years of stuttering underperformance, driven by a deliberate and aggressive strategy from Beijing to repatriate…
Welcome to 2026 and the Year of the Horse, a Chinese zodiac sign synonymous with progress and vitality. Yet whether the coming year in travel retail turns out to be more of a trot than a healthy canter remains to be seen. With normal supplies resuming in Chinese duty-free stores, Cognac brands will certainly be hoping for a better year and have once…
As 2025 draws to a close and the holiday travel period gets underway in earnest, hard-working travel retail executives will be hoping for a positive end to what has been another turbulent year. Many of them will get that wish. Despite heightened geopolitical tensions, seemingly endless tit-for-tat tariff spats between trading blocs, and bitter conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, demand for international travel…
Spare a thought for travellers caught up in a spate of drone-related incidents at European airports this September, such as those in Copenhagen, Oslo, and Munich, which caused considerable flight delays, diversions and cancellations. In recent months, other European countries, including Belgium, Romania, Estonia, and Lithuania, have also reported drone overflights, sometimes near military sites. Such incidents have been widely perceived in the west as…
Buyers heading to the TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes later this month will find a travel retail drinks market in transition, with clear category winners emerging alongside pockets of challenge in what is proving to be one of the most volatile years since the onset of the pandemic. Against this backdrop, this year’s show will serve as a crucial platform for retailers to assess new…
