A year and a half after the merger of North Carolina’s Banks Channel and Miami’s WEBB, the newly created wine and spirits distributor has had a highly successful integration, even with the devastating hurricanes that struck parts of the Caribbean last summer. First half sales for 2018 are up 33 percent against the pre-hurricane numbers […]
Caribbean
Americas-Caribbean airline route review: US has two-thirds of seats; Rio-São Paulo is busiest route
Airline network news and analysis group anna-aero reports that domestic South and Central American services top the Americas and Caribbean route rankings, even though US airports and airlines dominate the market in terms of available capacity and account for more than two-thirds of the region’s weekly departing seats. In fact, anna-aero reports that the four […]
Tourism group cautions Caribbean governments on raising air passenger duties
The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) is strongly urging Caribbean governments to consider carefully the impact of leveling high air travel-related taxes and fees on travel demand as the struggling island nations wrestle with balancing budgets. CHTA’s Director General and CEO Frank Comito, speaking last Friday following the International Air Transport Association’s (IATA) Aviation Day […]
Luxottica and Duty Free Americas develop standalone sunglasses boutique concept at Punta Cana International Airport
Eyewear leader Luxottica Group and Duty Free Americas have partnered to develop a new stand-alone Sunglasses boutique at Punta Cana International Airport’s Terminal A, Dominican Republic. This cutting-edge store – which was custom-designed for the location – is the first stand-alone space for the sunglasses category operated by DFA. Built on sunglasses category management principles, the boutique […]
Artco Group showcases new Caribbean stores
Artco Group, the Miami-based specialist store planners, designers and manufacturers of customer millwork and store fixtures, has been providing store designs for the duty free and travel retail industry for the past 30 years, always staying ahead of the retail trend. The company created some striking new stores in the Caribbean this past year, and […]
Top Brands International enters St. Thomas market with duty free concession at the historic A.H.Riise Mall
Panamanian company Top Brands International continues to power ahead with its expansion strategy in the Americas, and announces an important new retail concession contract with the owners of the A.H.Riise Mall in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Danny Yohoros, President of Top Brands International, tells TMI that his company will be operating more than 6,000 […]
Grand Duty Free flourishes under new ownership in the Cayman Islands
The Grand Duty Free store in downtown George Town, Grand Cayman, was opened under new ownership in July 2017, and continues to offer a range of exclusivities on the upscale tourism island. One year after introducing the high-end Swiss skincare brand Valmont, offering facials and other treatments in the only instore cabin on the […]
Rouge hits milestones in Grenada and St. Thomas with more store openings
Rouge Caribe is celebrating two major milestones so far this year as it continues to expand in the Caribbean. One month prior to the Summit of the Americas the aggressively growing duty free operator opened its first stores in 3,000 sq. feet of new space on the second level of Grenada’s Maurice Bishop International Airport. […]
CTO Caribbean Tourism Performance Report 2017: some growth after hurricane impact; recovery underway
CTO this morning presented its annual Caribbean Tourism Performance Report 2017 & Outlook. The catastrophic hurricanes that devastated some Caribbean destinations last September slowed down tourism’s progress but did not stop it, according to figures released by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO). Ryan Skeete, the CTO’s acting director of research announced at a news conference […]
Kingston’s Norman Manley International airport closer to divestiture
The privatization of Jamaica’s Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) is scheduled to be completed by June 2019, reported Audley Deidrick, the President and CEO of the Airports Authority of Jamaica and NMIA Airports Ltd. last week. Eight bidders were prequalified for the transaction earlier this year. Five of the eight bidders went through a series […]
IAADFS launches relief effort to help Caribbean recovery from Hurricane Irma, as it prepares for first Summit and works to improve airports and industry conditions
The International Association of Airport and Duty Free Stores (IAADFS) took an important step to help colleagues in the Caribbean who had been impacted by Hurricane Irma, the category 5 storm that flattened some of the key tourist islands in the Caribbean in early September. Hoping to fund immediate relief efforts, the Association contributed US$10,000to […]
Bacardi rum activation brings fun and Latin vibe to San Juan’s Luis Munoz International Airport
A four-month activation from Bacardi that celebrates BACARDI heritage in pioneering classic rum cocktails is currently running with Dufry at Puerto Rico’s San Juan Luis Munoz Marin International Airport. Bacardi is mainly produced and aged in Puerto Rico, using lightly charred American white oak barrels. Featuring the full range of Bacardi aged rums, the activation is running from June 1 until September 30, 2017. […]
Three cruise ships reportedly pulling out of Jamaica’s Falmouth Port
At least three cruise ships will no longer stop in Falmouth, Jamaica for the upcoming cruise season the Jamaica Gleaner reported on July 7. In a story that has been picked up by all the specialized cruise media, Falmouth’s mayor, Colin Gager, told the Jamaica Gleaner that the ships are leaving due to visitor harassment, conduct of tour bus operators […]
Cuba – US airlift takes a knock after early promise
The rapid development in seat capacity between the US and Cuba following an Obama-led revival in relations has gone into reverse according to travel retail analyst, research and category expert Counter Intelligence Retail – and Donald Trump’s latest policy intervention is not going to help. High hopes of US duty free and travel retailers expecting […]
Top Brands International acquires Bright Star Duty Free in Asuncion
Since acquiring Miami-based Image Duty Free last October, Panamanian company Top Brands International continues to power ahead with its expansion strategy. Earlier this year, Top Brands acquired the duty free operations of Paraguayan travel retailer Bright Star. The acquisition further strengthens the company’s presence in the airport travel retail channel in the region. Bright Star […]
