One highlight of the 2019 Summit of the Americas in Orlando was the announcement of the winners of annual 2019 DFNI-Frontier Americas Awards.
Recognizing the best of travel retail across all channels in the Americas, entries were evaluated by a panel of expert judges – Antoine Bona, Erasmo Orillac, Giles Marks, Jackie McDonagh, Robin Rosenbaum-Andras and Walter Aguilar. The entries with the highest average score were named the winners, who were announced at the champagne reception event on Monday evening.
Among the big winners were Starboard Cruise Services, which won three awards including Americas Travel Retailer of the Year, Cruise or Ferry Retailer of the Year and New Shop Opening of the Year for theCelebrity Shops on Celebrity Edge. DFS Group won two awards, including Airport Retail Operation of the Year (over 50 million pax) and Duty Free Experience of the Year.
From Canada, Importations Guay Ltée (IGL) Duty Free also won two awards, for Border Store of the Year and for Charitable Initiative of the Year, which recognized its Streethearts Haiti campaign. William Grant & Sons won Supplier of the Year.
The full list of winners this year were:
Airport Retail Operation of the Year (over 50 million pax) – DFS Group
Airport Retail Operation of the Year (under 50 million pax) – Aer Rianta International (ARI) North America
Americas Travel Retailer of the Year, sponsored by Imperial Brands – Starboard Cruise Services
Border Store of the Year – Importations Guay Ltée (IGL) Duty Free
Charitable Initiative of the Year – Streethearts Haiti campaign from Importations Guay Ltée
Cruise or Ferry Retailer of the Year – Starboard Cruise Services
Duty Free Experience of the Year – DFS Group for First Class Beauty
Highly Commended: Edrington Americas Travel Retail for The Macallan x DFS Loyal T event at Los Angeles
Highly Commended: William Grant & Sons for Monkey Shoulder Scotch Whisky Ambassador Team
Inflight Retailer of the Year – 3Sixty Duty Free & More
New Product Launch of the Year, sponsored by Harding Retail
Mondelez World Travel Retail for Toblerone Tiny Crunchy Almonds 272g
Highly Commended: Cabeau for Cabeau Evolution S3
Highly Commended: Starboard Cruise Services for Kallati Edge Captain’s Collection
New Shop Opening of the Year – Starboard Cruise Services for Celebrity Shops on Celebrity Edge
Highly Commended: 3Sixty for Whiskey Flight at Dallas/Fort Worth
Highly Commended: International Shoppes for iShoppes Duty Free at JFK Terminal 1
Supplier of the Year, sponsored by 3Sixty WINNER: William Grant & Sons
Source: DFNI