LEADER/NEWS


US responds to Covid-19 Leader


At the time of writing, South Korea’s Prime Minister was insisting that the country was on the brink of a ‘turning point’ in the battle against Covid-19, while China was also reporting a fall in cases and deaths [although many have accused Chinese authorities of under reporting and publishing ‘questionable data’]. Meanwhile, the struggle to effectively


contain coronavirus in many parts of the world motivated decisions to cancel the 2020 Summit of the Americas and the TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition & Conference.


The former was due to take place in Orlando in March/April and


the latter in Singapore this May. In connection with the Summit of the Americas convention in


particular, IAADFS told TRBusiness (p23) that mounting concern over health safety, combined with increased travel advisories and government health warnings – including the State of Florida’s 1 March declaration of a public health emergency – meant there was no other responsible choice available.


You spoke and we listened... As reported, TRBusiness conducted an independent 24-hour survey to canvas the opinion of travel retail industry stakeholders on whether two of the industry’s biggest trade fairs, Summit of the Americas and the TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition & Conference, should go ahead as planned in the face of the rapidly evolving Covid-19 outbreak. Taking all respondents into account (those with travel restrictions as well


as those without) 63.43% voted that the Summit of the Americas should continue as planned while 36.57% voted against. Of those who had no travel restrictions in place, the percentage in favour of the event going ahead rose to 85.22%, while 14.78% were against. When asked for his forecast on Covid-19’s impact to the travel retail


industry in the Americas, IAADFS President & CEO, Michael Payne told TRBusiness that he expects it to hit those airports that currently serve a high number of Chinese travellers – particularly on the West Coast at hubs such as Los Angeles and San Francisco – and pointed out that those concessionaires that rely on the group travel business from China ‘will feel it’. Interestingly, international and domestic passenger volumes


in North America proved to be a bright spot in an otherwise more moderated global passenger traffic performance in the first half of last year, according to ACI World. However, the picture is likely to change should the spread of


Covid-19 not be contained in reasonable time, confirmed Payne. “I do think the virus will hit revenues at several key airports,” he


said, stressing that should the country implement travel restrictions, the effects could be more profound. “If you have flights cancelled and you’re not getting the tourism groups coming through the airports, they are definitelygoing to feel it.”


Charlotte Turner, Editorial Director MARCH 2020 TRBUSINESS 13


2020 Travel Retail Awards: Bloggers assemble in London for judging process


In February, bloggers, YouTubers, reviewers and influencers from the worlds of travel, aviation and retail assembled at Heathrow’s Hyatt Place Hotel to judge a record number of entries to the 2020 Travel Retail Awards. Travelling from all over the world, including Cape Town, Singapore,


Vancouver, France, Germany among many other destinations, the bloggers assembled on Friday 21 February for a relaxed networking evening and some stimulating conversation about the state of the duty free & travel retail industry. In the following two days, judges were afforded a generous


amount of time to comprehensively assess this year’s entries – products across all core duty free categories and those airports/ retailers/F&B providers vying for the title of ‘Best Green Initiative at an Airport’ – offering their invaluable consumer insight and totally unbiased opinions. In addition to judging the entries, during their stay in London


each of them offered up their valuable time to be interviewed by TRBusiness on camera. During their one-on-one video interviews they offered their


important views on the industry as a whole, making suggestions on how passengers’ shopping and dining experiences could be improved, but also highlighting those shopping trips which exceeded their expectations. As well-travelled individuals they were also well-placed to offer


their appraisal of various pertinent topics related to travel, aviation and tourism, all of which was captured on camera by TRBusiness.


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