The Panama Maritime Authority has announced the tender for the operation and maintenance of the cruise terminal on Perico Island. The terminal is located at Panama City’s Amador Causeway, near the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal. In this phase of the project, the terminal will be able to berth two large ships up to 380 meters/1,247 […]
Latin America
Argentina’s Monica Ariaudo’s award-winning store designs serve travelers throughout the Americas
Monica Ariaudo and her team of architects at Estudio Ariaudo in Buenos Aires have played a part in the design of nearly every travel retail development in Argentina and Uruguay in recent years. One of the leading retail architects and shop designers in Latin America. Ariaudo takes an active role in the duty free stores […]
One on One with Rene Riedi, Division CEO Central and South America for Dufry
Managing the LATAM airport duty free business in challenging times The duty free and travel retail business in South America experienced one of its most difficult years in recent memory in 2018, a situation that took place practically overnight. A company like Dufry, which has airport operations in nearly every country in the region, […]
Currency stability returns but outlook for travel retail remains uncertain
Most Latin American economies are experiencing a comparatively quiet start to the year. The currency devaluations that caused such problems in the middle of last year have dissipated, at least for the moment. Both the Argentine Peso and the Brazilian Real have been holding their own against the US Dollar although financial analysts worry that […]
WEBB Banks reinforces number one position in Caribbean
WEBB Banks, the newly created wine and spirits super distributor, is having fantastic success in the region, CEO Andy Consuegra tells TMI. Created from the joining of North Carolina’s Banks Channel and Miami’s WEBB, the merger gave the combined company the scale, the leverage and breadth of portfolio that the partners did not have separately, […]
Rituals global expansion gathers pace as brand opens first store in Americas travel retail at London Supply
Rituals teamed up with Essence Corp, its Americas distributor, to open the brand’s first travel retail store in the region, located at London Supply’s Puerto Iguazu duty free complex. The 28sq m shop-in-shop, which opened Feb. 2, features a large assortment of Rituals products including fragrance sticks, candles, perfumes, gift sets and products from […]
Waked sues National Bank of Panama for losses due to actions taken after company was listed on US Clinton list
Abdul Waked, founder of former leading travel retail company Grupo Wisa, has filed a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against the National Bank of Panama (BNP), claiming damages, loss and loss-of- profit stemming from actions taken after Waked and his businesses were included by the U.S. Treasury Department on the “Clinton List” for activities linked to money laundering […]
3Sixty and Avianca Holdings sign agreement for On Line Market Platform for Latin American airline network
3Sixty (formerly DFASS) and airline group Avianca Holdings (AVH) have signed an agreement to convert the current inflight concessions with AVH’s controlled airlines into an innovative pre-order duty free and duty paid platform. The new Joint Business Agreement (JBA) will start with Avianca (Colombia), Aerogal (Ecuador), TACA (Peru), and LACSA (Costa Rica), and will service […]
London Supply Golf Tournament raises more than $723,000 for charitable foundation
Argentine duty free operator London Supply announces that it has raised US$ 723,357 for the company’s charitable foundation from the company’s 15th Annual Golf tournament. The event took place in the Uruguayan resort of Punta del Este on January 4, 2019. This year the funds will be directed to a variety of causes, with most […]
Total passenger traffic rises 6.9% in Argentina, but growth slows from 2017
Passenger traffic at Argentina’s airports reached 29.2m in 2018, up 6.9% over the previous year, reports EANA (Empresa Argentina de Navegación Aérea). Although the growth is in line with average growth over the last ten years, it shows a significant slowdown from the 15% increase in 2017. Domestic traffic grew by 12.4% to 14.2m passengers, […]
New Mexico City Airport cancellation confirmed
The new Mexico City International Airport, which has been under construction at a greenfield site in Texcoco since 2014, has been cancelled, confirmed Mexican Communications and Transport Minister, Javier Jimenez Espriu, last week. Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, who took office at the beginning of December, made a campaign promise to hold a public […]
ASUTIL endorses new Mercosur border shopping resolution but criticizes list of excluded products
Latin America’s travel retail industry was greeted with mixed news at year’s end as industry executives attempted to decipher the latest decrees from the Mercosur trading bloc, published just before the Southern Hemisphere summer recess on Dec. 16. The decree, which harmonizes the regulations on duty free shops on the borders of all the Mercosur […]
Chinese tourism in Brazil increases and it becomes easier to get a visa
The Rio Convention & Visitors Bureau reports that the number of Chinese tourists arriving in Brazil has been increasing every year, and reached 61,000 last year. According to data from Embratur, the government agency responsible for promoting tourism in Brazil, China advanced four positions in the overall ranking of countries sending visitors to Brazil. Nevertheless, […]
DFA opens 10,000 sqm Panda Free Shop on the border in Rio Branco, Uruguay
Duty Free Americas last week opened the doors to its major shopping and entertainment complex in the city of Rio Branco in Uruguay. A unique proposal in the region, the free shop is operating under the name Panda Free Shop, as part of the new Rio Branco Shopping. The Shopping center also comprises several commercial […]
SSP forms JV with DFA to enter South America with two new contracts in Brazil
Airport food and beverage operator SSP has announced it will be entering the South American travel market for the first time after securing contracts with two of Brazil’s main international airports in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The agreement is a joint venture partnership between SSP and Duty Free Americas (DFA) that is worth […]
