ASSOCIATION NEWS
Duty free industry welcomes agreement on Illicit Trade Protocol
APTRA joins its partners at the other regional duty free associations, ETRC, ASUTIL, IAADFS & MEDFA, in welcoming the news that a consensus has been reached by the parties to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to tackle the smuggling of tobacco through the adoption of a Protocol on illicit trade. The fifth meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body took place in Geneva at the beginning of April where the Parties agreed a way forward to tackle this criminal activity. Although the final text will not be released for some weeks, it is understood that the Protocol does not call for a ban on duty free sales of tobacco but does still subject the duty free industry to scrutiny in the years to come. The duty free representative organisations welcomed the news stating they were confident that the industry would stand up to any scrutiny.
Read the full press release here.
China
APTRA is pleased to announce its partnership with TFWA for the new industry conference on China, scheduled for March 5-7 next year. Entitled “China’s Century: the fast pace of change in China duty free & travel retail”, the conference will bring together key decision makers from China’s aviation industry, including airlines and airports, and retailers and suppliers from the international duty free and travel industry. The conference, which will include a social and networking programme, is set to become a landmark event within the industry calendar given the growing importance of the Chinese market and the increasing demand among Chinese consumers when travelling.
Read the full press release here.
Advocacy
APTRA will host a meeting during the TFWA Asia Pacific & Gate One2One exhibition to discuss the association’s advocacy work. The meeting, which will bring together suppliers from specific categories will take place on Tuesday May 15 at 3pm in the Suntec Centre (location to be confirmed). The purpose of the meeting will be to assess the current policy situation in the Asia Pacific region, highlight specific legislation in the pipeline which may be of concern and discuss how the association can best organise its policy work going forward, together with its members. Any member interested in taking part in this meeting should contact us by writing to Michael Barrett (
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).
Responsibility
Following the launch of the Self-Regulatory Code of Conduct for the sales of alcohol in duty free & travel retail in March, APTRA would welcome feedback from suppliers of alcoholic beverages who have not yet endorsed the code, as well as retailers, airports and airlines who have not yet officially acknowledged or adapted it. The code formalises the current good practice already in place by the industry throughout the region. Members from the aforementioned sectors are encouraged to respond. We are keen to see and demonstrate that the industry takes responsible retailing seriously.
Research
The tenth chapter of the APTRA consumer research is now available in the members’ area of the APTRA website. This report covers attitudes to inflight duty free – both on LCCs and legacy carriers with a summary of the key findings which reveal the main trends in attitudes and behaviour in the inflight duty free sector in Asia Pacific. Also new and available to members exclusively in the members’ only area is a summary report from the Australian Centre for Retail Studies, based out of the Monash University in Melbourne. The report summary, which has been provided to APTRA on a complimentary basis from the ACRS, looks at retailer trends and consumer behaviour in the multitude of retail environments from offline to online, mobile, and social retailing. The report addresses how retailers are looking to merge the environments to reach consumers at all touchpoints of the shopping and browsing experience. The report also looks at how, when and where consumers search for shopping information across the various channels.
If any members are interested in receiving the full report, please write to us at
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.
INDUSTRY NEWS
Chinese tourists go Cuckoo for “Hallyu”
Chinese tourists are reportedly stocking up at Korean duty free shops on Korean goods, inspired by Korean culture or “Hallyu”, the Korean Wave as it is commonly known. According to an article in the Korea Times Chinese tourists are flocking to Korea to stock up on a variety of Korean brands as well as the many international brands they are fervent admirers of, luxury brands in particular. Korean cosmetics, clothing and even the top selling rice-cooker brand “Cuckoo” are among the top purchases by Chinese travellers. Korean culture has become increasingly popular in the past decade ever since the term Hallyu was first coined in 1999 by Chinese journalists, commenting on the fast growing popularity of Korean culture in China.
One bag rule spreads in the US
News from The Nordic Travel Retail Group… the NTRG recently reported to its members about another US airline enforcing a one-bag rule on its passengers. The news was picked up by Scandinavian Travel news portal StandBy.dk and can be found on CNN Travel’s news service at this link. According to the report, passengers will be charged between $10 and $30 for any carry-on luggage during the booking process if the bag does not fit under the seat. $35 will be charged if the passenger pays at the airport. The news is of concern to the industry globally as this type of airline policy can spread to other regions and in some cases result in passengers being discouraged from making duty free purchases. According to Allegiant Air’s website however, one duty free bag or box is allowed in addition the free baggage allowance.
Taiwan to see boost in tourism from China
The Chinese press has reported that Taiwan is set to see an increase in inbound tourism from China following an agreement reached between both governments to allow up individual tourists to enter the island from a further ten cities. Up until now, only residents from Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen were allowed to travel to Taiwan; the agreement also provides for an increase in the daily quota of travellers from 500 to 1000. Chinese travellers were first allowed to enter Taiwan as individual tourists since June 2011 but before then mainlanders could only travel to the island as part of tightly-run tour groups, business trips, academic visits and trips related to family affairs. Since June 57 000 visitors have entered Taiwan from mainland China and this figure is set to rise sharply this year as the agreement also provides for travellers from a further four cities to be allowed to travel to Taiwan before the end of this year. The news bodes well for the duty free & travel retail industry on both sides of the straits. Click here for the full story.
Online and on-board retailing merge
The news on The Trend Watch that Delta is providing free wifi to passengers who wish to shop on board the airline’s domestic routes on internet retailer Amazon.com brings a new dimension to inflight retail. The service is available on more than 3000 daily flights within the US and Alaska and will give passengers the opportunity to research, browse and shop on amazon.com for free. It will be available on all 800 of the airline’s wifi enabled fleet. For more details see Delta Airline’s site and The Trend Watch brief.
India to develop 11 new international routes
The Centre for Aviation (CAPA) has reported that India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation (MOCA) will allocate 11 new international sectors under Bilateral Air Services Agreements (ASAs) to Air India and other Indian scheduled carriers. Among the markets which will be serviced are China, Myanmar, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Australia and Macau. For the full article, click here.
EVENTS
APTRA President Sunil Tuli will address the 2012 TFWA Asia Pacific & Gate One2One conference in Singapore on May 14. Speaking during the plenary session at the conference, entitled “Power and Potential in Asia Pacific” as well as during the TFWA industry association working lunch, Sunil will discuss the various challenges being addressed by the industry association currently.
APTRA has also been invited to address the Aviation Outlook Australia Pacific conference which will take place in Sydney from 23-25 July during the regional Airports World event.
Sunil will be addressing the audience of airport and airline CEOs from around the region on the theme of turning travellers into retail customers.
JOBS
The Jobs section on the APTRA website features a CV from an executive with over ten years’ experience in the duty free industry and an opportunity posted by a recruitment agency for a position with a leading manufacturer of FMCG goods for a senior duty free manager for the Chinese market.
