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TFWA CANNES PREVIEW: JOHN RIMMER INTERVIEW


DF&TR industry ‘cautiously optimistic’ as TFWA Cannes showpiece looms


Last year, global duty and tax free sales rose +8.1% to $68.6bn, contributing to a mood of general positivity among industry stakeholders. That said, we must not rest on our laurels and continue to improve in certain areas, as TFWA’s Managing Director John Rimmer tells Andrew Pentol.


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s the DF&TR industry prepares to descend on Cannes for the 2018 Tax


Free World Association (TFWA) Conference and Exhibition it will do so with a sense of ‘cautious optimism’ That is according to TFWA


been as attractive a destination for shoppers and brand investment as it is today.” One area where there is clearly


Managing Director John Rimmer who is preparing for his second Cannes showpiece at the helm. Officially appointed on 1 October 2017, Rimmer initially joined TFWA in 2012 having been involved in the DF&TR industry for 17 years. In his role as MD, Rimmer has full


responsibility for the association’s events and activities and helps define TFWA’s strategy as approved by the board and management committee. Offering an honest and frank


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room for improvement is in the balance of risk and reward between stakeholders. Rimmer explains: “It is something we have talked about a lot, but it doesn’t make it any less true. “There needs to be a genuine


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collaboration between the different stakeholders in our industry for everyone to get a return on the considerable investments being made. This is something we as a brand association feel strongly about.” He adds: “It is important to


assessment of the current state of the DF&TR industry he tells TRBusiness: “Generally, people are cautiously optimistic about the current performance and immediate prospects for the industry. “The quality of the retail stores


and brand executions in our industry has never been higher. “Everywhere you look there is


huge investment being made and I don’t think our industry has ever


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invest. The travel retail market remains a fantastic shop window for brands, but will only remain so if there is a genuine collaborative approach between the parties. This is something we to continually be aware of.”


‘Enormous potential’ Rimmer says the potential of the industry is ‘absolutely enormous’ and that we are in a period of global growth in tourism and passenger numbers.


“The quality of the retail stores and brand executions in our industry has never been higher.”


John Rimmer, TFWA Managing Director


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In 2017, duty and tax free sales, for example, amounted to $68.6bn (Generation Research) an increase of +8.1% on 2016. Sales in Asia Pacific amounted to $30.bn, up +11.6% on 2016. He remarks: “There are huge


infrastructural investments taking place in key markets and we are


Above: Responding positively to the demand for exhibition space is a real challenge for the TFWA in Cannes.


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