The Travel Markets Insider newsletter is attached to this post as a PDF file. To open the PDF file, please click on this link.
Congratulations to Canada’s Frontier Duty Free Association, which celebrated its 30th Anniversary in Vancouver, British Columbia on Nov. 15-18 with an excellent, well-attended annual Convention at the Westin Bayshore Hotel..
Continuing our Focus on Canada and its land border duty free industry, TMI presents an exclusive interview with FDFA Executive Director Laurie Karson discussing the impact that Canada’s new government could have on the future growth of the industry, among other issues raised during the 2015 Convention — including education and training programs, border control initiatives and marketing proposals. The far-ranging interview begins on Page 1.
TMI also announces the winners of the FDFA’s 2015 Gold Standard Awards. We will provide in-depth coverage of the winning programs in future issues. Pages 3.
In the lead news story of the week, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has lowered its long-term passenger growth forecast to 7 billion passengers by 2034 (a 3.8% average annual growth rate), down from 7.4 billion (a 4.1% average annual growth rate.) Despite the lower forecast, the 7 billion passenger forecast is double the 3.3 billion who flew in 2014 and exactly twice as many as the 3.5 billion expected in 2015. See story and charts on pages 1 & 2.
PEOPLE. Brown-Forman announces several executive changes, including the retirement of Tony McIver, who has represented the spirits company in the Middle East for the past 20 years, and new positions for Robinson Brown IV, Tim Young and Matias Bentel.
SUPPLY SIDE FEATURE. French premium chocolate brand Valrhona will be debuting in the Americas travel retail with a special Christian Lacroix presentation with DFA for the 2015 holiday season. Although Valrhona has a strong presence in Europe and a growing footprint in the Middle East and Asia, the launch with DFA marks its first foray into the travel retail market in this region. Lara Pasternak reports.
