The Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association (APTRA) is to extend membership of the organisation by introducing a new ‘Associated Member’ category.
The category is open to companies “which can offer services of value to member companies and to the industry as a whole”.
The move was made in consultation with members, with the amendment to the association’s statutes agreed during APTRA’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) which took place on Wednesday (11 May) at the TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition & Conference in Singapore.
“The initiative to facilitate a new category of associate member follows expressions of interest in membership from various companies offering services which are associated with, or relevant to, the duty free and travel retail business in the Asia Pacific region,” said APTRA President Jaya Singh.
“These may include food & beverage operators, research consultancies, investment companies and other consultancies involved in the duty free and travel retail business. We believe that the inclusion of these companies will add depth and weight to our membership base and will help us to better represent the broader travel retail community.”
At the AGM it was also agreed that the tenure of the two existing Board members representing DFS and Japan Tobacco International, whose terms of office are out of synchronisation with the rest of the members, should be extended by one year to bring them into line. All members of the Board will be able to stand for re-election in May 2017.
In addition, Teo Chew Hoon was named as the member representative from Changi Airport Group following the transfer of Ivy Wong to other responsibilities. Andrew Cunningham took the place of Dr Jennifer Cords in representing Imperial Tobacco earlier in the year.
Singh also reported on the activities of the association over the past year at the AGM, including the publication of seven research reports, the roll-out of the Responsible Retail Training Programme with more than 650 staff trained to date, and the association’s role in advocacy efforts across the region.
The APTRA Insights Seminar took place on 11 May and featured speakers Peter Mohn and David Perroud, Co-owners and Joint CEOs of m1nd-set; m1nd-set Travel Retail Research Director Clara Perez; KPMG Senior VP Business Development Anson Bailey; and moderator APTRA Executive Officer Michael Barrett |
