Travel Markets Insider Newsletter Vol. 17 No. 30

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BY THE NUMBERS.
This week TMI looks at the latest passenger, tourism and duty free sales figures being reported by the industry throughout the region.

We start with Atlanta, where Hartsfield-Jackson makes history by being the first airport to ever serve 100 million passengers in a single year. San Francisco International and Miami International Airports also broke passenger records in 2015, and MIA starts the year off with another record-breaking day. Pages 1 & 2.

As many of us in the industry know first hand, the stronger US dollar is having an impact on tourism spending both within the United States and internationally. According to the latest figures released by the US Department of Commerce’s National Travel & Tourism Office, international visitors to the US are spending less, while Americans traveling abroad had spent more than $129 billion between January-October, an increase of more than 7%. See more details on page 1.

The tourism mecca of Hawaii also reported its ninth straight month of record visitor arrivals in November, although visitor spend from the luxury-loving Japanese tourists is down. Page 3.

Canadian airport sales also continued strong in November, and were up more than 17% for the January-November period. Land border duty free sales in Canada were down slightly in November, however, although year-to-date the land border sales remain in the black. Page 3.

CRUISE NEWS. Four new Caribbean ports are in development to open over the next few years, with the newest – Norwegian Cruise Line’s Harvest Caye in Belize – scheduled to debut in February. The cruise industry’s most important global business-to-business event —Seatrade Cruise Global 2016 (formerly known as Cruise shipping Miami) is scheduled to take place March 14-17 at the Greater Fort Lauderdale Broward County convention Center (a new venue for the event). See page 3 for more information, and click here to register: http://www.seatradecruiseglobal.com

DFASS continues to expand, last month signing long-term duty free contracts for three Mexican airports. Page 1.

PEOPLE. Guy Bodart, who has worked with Chanel for the past 20 years, joins Panama-based Duty Free Dynamics. Page 1.

SUPPLY SIDE. Puig integrates Jean Paul Gaultier fragrances into its brand portfolio, page 2.

Beam Suntory releases the second Laphroaig Brodir Port Wood exclusively in global travel retail, page 2.

Absolut goes dark with Travel Retail release of Oak by Absolut, page 4.

Special Feature. Store planning and design company ARTCO Group discusses new trends in store design that can help travel retailers to compete against the Internet. Mickey Minagorri, Artco executive partner, talks about how to make your store more consumer friendly and compelling. Page 4.