TFWA World Exhibition and Conference Cannes – 40th year anniversary

Over the past 40 years duty free and travel retail has grown its turnover from US$5 billion to US$60 billion.

It has weathered financial crisis, armed conflict, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, and pandemics – SARS and COVID – while helping to build a more connected world.

The industry has been boosted by waves of tourism as Japanese, Koreans and Chinese discovered travel. It has also driven socio-economic change – the first package holidays, the opening of travel to the masses by low-cost airlines, and the popularity of cruises for the old, the young and everyone in between.

The industry has witnessed Silver Surfers and Baby Boomers, Millennials, Gen X,Y,Z and now it prepares for Gen Alpha.

Air passengers are the lifeblood of duty free and travel retail. Data foresees total passengers rising 11.5% this year versus 2023, putting passenger traffic above 2019 pre Covid levels.

In the first half of 2024 international passengers were up 1.4% on H1 2019 while domestic passengers were 1.3% higher.

The recovery is unevenly spread geographically. The Middle East and Africa bounced back strongly in the first half of the year, followed by Latina America while North America and Europe were more measured.

Asia Pacific was still below 2019 levels, although this deficit is reducing.

However, ACI World’s long-term outlook is encouraging. Indeed, the data shows a predicted recovery to the 2019 level by the end of this year (9.78 bn passengers), reaching 19.5 bn by 2042 and 24.5 bn by 2052.

However, the end of revenge travel and lower spend per head is making an impact, with some retailers in the Middle East and Europe suggesting that sales growth is sometimes slower than passenger growth, reflecting reduced per capita spend among travellers reluctant to shop in uncertain economic times.

Research shows two aspects vital to attract today’s travellers are value and personalisation. Personalisation resonates especially with younger travellers.

Airports still dominate but cruise sector is seeing large increases in participation. Last year cruises attracted 30 million passengers, by 2027 the number will be 40 million. The only thing holding back the sector is capacity – not enough ships.

TFWA Attendance

The 2024 TFWA (Tax-Free World Association) World Exhibition & Conference, attracted an international audience of 7,456 visitors and featured 462 exhibiting brands.

• The visitor demographic was diverse, with attendees from regions worldwide.
• The largest share of visitors was from Europe (52%) followed by Asia (25%), Americas (9%) and Middle East (9%).
• Attendees from France made up the largest percentage of the visitor base, with 689 visitors, followed by 592 from United Kingdom, and United States in third position, with 299 visitors.
• By activity, Duty Free Operators and Agent/Distributor were the largest in attendance, each representing 36% of visitors, they were followed by Other Trade Visitors and Guests (10%).
• The 462 exhibiting brands represented a wide geographical spread.
• The leading exhibitor region was Europe (82%) followed by Americas (8%), Middle East (5%) and Asia (5%).
• The leading exhibitor countries were as follows: France (23%), Italy (13%), United Kingdom (11%), United states (6%).
• The travel retail range of product categories were represented at the exhibition, with a detailed breakdown revealing Perfumes/Cosmetics held the largest share (33%), followed by Wines/Spirits/Beers/Non-alcoholic beverages 25% and Confectionery/Fine Food/Food Supplements (15%).

Diverse Flavours at TFWA

Once again Diverse Flavours had a great exhibition. We meet many current clients, and friends, many new clients for the first time and of course continue the conversations with potential clients from over the years.

Duty Free and Travel Retail remains a fantastic channel for all luxury brands, and the scope and variation of our industry remains an enigma to many. It requires patience, perseverance, and commitment – great brands and people!