Travel Markets Insider Newsletter Vol. 20 No. 26

The Travel Markets Insider newsletter is attached to this post as a PDF file. To open the PDF file, please click on this link.

 

Many in the travel retail industry are arriving today in Singapore to attend the TFWA Asia Pacific Conference and Exhibition. We wish you all safe travels and a very successful event in this dynamic area of the world.
BY THE NUMBERS
 
Meanwhile, global air passenger traffic figures for March that were released this week by the International Air Transport Association sow a note of caution, as the rate of growth was the slowest in nine years. IATA does not see the slowdown as a bellwether for the rest of the year, however, but rather as a result of Easter falling a month later than last year. TMI presents the IATA report for February and March beginning on page 1.
In more tourism news, travel booking analyst ForwardKeys indicates that international travelers are flocking to Argentina to take advantage of the cost savings accruing from that country’s weak peso. It does not seem the higher numbers of tourists are buying in duty free however. Page 1.
Still looking at South America, the State of Sao Paulo in Brazil is evaluating the opportunities of private-public partnerships to run its 20 regional airports, and has retained international economic development consulting firm IOS Partners to identify and compare various proposals. Read more on page 2.
AIRPORT CONCESSIONS & SERVICES
 
Stellar Partners has debuted popular US clothing brand White House Black Market in its first airport location with the opening of a store with Fraport USA in Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. Page 3.
LAX, in partnership with Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) Airports, has launched a new digital marketplace that will allow airport passengers to search and browse a growing online catalog of products, product information, digital menus and new offerings. Details on page 4.
GTAA-the Greater Toronto Airport Authority – plans a major new development at Toronto Pearson International Airport and has appointed The Design Studio to carry our commercial planning and environmental designs. Page 6.
CRUISE NEWS
 
Cruise companies appear to be taking more notice of their onboard retail business, with several new concessions and/or cruise retail concepts announced this week
Dufry Group‘s cruise business took another leap forward after the company signed a contract with Holland America Line to operate duty free shops onboard 6 additional HAL cruise ships for a total of 15. Dufry is now the duty free retail concessionaire on the entire HAL fleet. See page 4.
Gebr. Heinemann is expanding its cruise ship portfolio, winning a retail concession on an AIDA Cruises ship for the first time, the AIDAluna. AIDA Cruises is one of the ten brands owned by Carnival Corp, and based in Hamburg, caters to the German-speaking market. Page 5.
Starboard Cruise Services has expanded its presence in the Asian cruise market with the retail concession onboard the Genting-owned Explorer Dream, the third ship in the premium Dream Cruises line. Starboard, which has been operating in Asia since 2006, began partnering with Dream Cruises with the cruise line’s first ship, Genting Dream, in 2016. Page 5.
MSC Cruises, one of the fastest growing and most innovative lines, received approval to build a new multi-ship cruise terminal at PortMiami. The company has 13 new ships on order to join the fleet over the next eight years.
INDUSTRY NEWS
 
The Duty Free World Council is set to launch its first Certification Course and will discuss details next week during TFWA AP. Page 3.
Women in Travel Retail’s chosen global charity this year will help train 24 young women in Siem Reap to qualify for a career in a beauty salon. The training through Friends-International will help improve the lives of 100 woman and children in total, says the organization. More information is on page 6.