The sold-out 2025 ASUTIL Conference took place in Lima, Peru last week at an opportune time for both the host city and the Latin America region as a whole.
The new terminal at Lima’s Jorge Chávez International Airport officially started operations on June 1, just one day before the ASUTIL Conference returned to the city for the first time in more than a decade.
There were 320 attendees on-hand at the Swissotel Lima, with more than 70 buyers present.
ASUTIL President Enrique Urioste in his opening address at the conference, said that passenger traffic in the region is expected to double by 2053 with international traffic growing faster than domestic traffic. Latin America is expected to grow by 8.7% overall in 2025 compared to 2024.
Lima was a key topic on day one of the conference, with keynote speaker Dag Rasmussen, Chairman & CEO at Lagardère Travel Retail, talking about the new terminal opening at Lima Airport.
The new flagship operation at Lima Jorge Chávez International Airport is a major milestone for Lagardère Travel Retail and a new benchmark for travel retail and dining in the region, says Rasmussen.
Lagardère is reshaping the passenger experience with a deep celebration of Peruvian culture and gastronomy in Lima, says Rasmussen. The space includes 7,300 sqm of commercial space — including 4,000 sqm of duty free and duty paid retail, and 3,300 sqm dedicated to food & beverage.
With the opening of the new terminal in Lima last week, Rasmussen says he hopes the Lima operation will become the flagship duty free store in Latin America, with his company “an emerging player in Latin America.”
“While we are not the biggest operator in the region, it is our ambition to be the best.”
Rasmussen says the success of the Lima store will be based on three core values: adaptability, sense of place, and trust.
Lima Airport continued to be in the spotlight, with Lima Airport Partners (LAP) CEO Juan Jose Salmon and CCO Norbert Onkelbach discussing how their new airport is transforming the region.
Lima Airport will be a very important hub in the region, says Salmon.
“We have a very ambitious growth plan,” says Onkelbach.
The Jorge Chavez airport expansion is one of the main infrastructure projects in Peru and the second largest investment project in the country.
The new terminal is three times bigger than the previous one. By the end of 2025, it will be expanded further to cover 270,000 square meters, providing enough capacity to receive up to 40 million passengers annually.
Following the speeches dedicated to the new Lima Airport opening, m1nd-set CEO Peter Mohn chaired a panel on the latest trends in the spirits in global travel retail featuring Pernod Ricard General Manager Travel Retail Americas Greg Ford; Suntory Global Spirits Regional Director Americas, Global Travel Retail Nathan Ellingson; Diageo Brazil VP Sales Andre Muller; and Moët Hennessy VP Travel Retail Americas Yann Isambert.
In the closing session of day one, Avolta Brazil CEO Gustavo Fagundes discussed ASUTIL’s work on advocacy, regulatory engagement and collaborative initiatives with Duty Free World Council (DFWC) President Sarah Branquinho and Ricardo Oliveira, External Senior Counsel to the DFWC.
Following a morning of networking, Petrina Kho, L’Oréal Managing Director Travel Retail Americas, started the second day of the ASUTIL conference focusing on the growth opportunities in Latin America for beauty, which is the largest category in the region for travel retail.
“If you are able to dream, you will be able to transform the business and make positive changes. Increasing air travel in Latin America will allow companies to keep growing,” says Kho, who started her new role in January.
Kho highlighted a campaign that is starting later this month at Buenos Aires Ezeiza Airport with Avolta as a best-in-class example of what they can do more of in the region. The activation includes all stakeholders, including American Airlines and Aerolineas Argentinas.
In the next session, Uruguayan political analyst John Moor explored the current global landscape and its implications for the region — offering insights to help navigate an increasingly complex and uncertain world.
ASUTIL staple, Argentinean economist Carlos Melconian, followed Moor, offering an in-depth analysis of economic trends, risks, and opportunities impacting the major LATAM economies and the key drivers of growth in the region, before joining Moor and ASUTIL President Enrique Urioste in a discussion about economics and politics in the region.
m1nd-set CEO Peter Mohn then delivered a report on air traffic and shopper trends in Latin America. He reports that 257 million international trips were forecast for Latin America in 2025, +19% ahead of the pre-pandemic 2019 figure.
In April, ASUTIL launched a new partnership with m1nd-set, delivering the first edition of its Quarterly Insights Updates exclusively for ASUTIL members.
The final session of the conference focused on innovation in border travel retail, with Avolta Brazil CEO Gustavo Fagundes, DFA Uruguay CEO Andres Mendelsohn, Neutral by Luryx CEO Marcelo Montico, and Rafael Parodi, Business Development Director at Sineriz highlighting their projects on the border in the region.
The Conference also offered its renowned networking opportunities, highlighted by the Opening cocktail sponsored by Sineriz, and a spectacular gala evening hosted by Lagardère. On Friday, ASUTIL organized a special day to sample Peruvian culture with a visit to the Pachacamac Sanctuary, an archaeological religious and ceremonial center for pre-Hispanic cultures; Hacienda los Ficus to see a live show and traditional dance performance with Peruvian Paso Horses, and a special lunch featuring traditional Peruvian cuisine, prepared with ingredients from the hacienda’s garden.
