ASIA PACIFIC. The Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association (APTRA) has elected King Power Group (Hong Kong) Group Chief Executive Sunil Tuli as its new President. He replaces Grant Fleming who steps down as he prepares to leave his role as Lagardère Travel Retail Head of Strategic Development – Asia for a new role outside the industry at the end of April.
Tuli was a founding board member of APTRA and held the position of President for three consecutive terms from 2007 until 2013.
Tuli said: “On behalf of the APTRA board, I’d like to wish Grant every success in his new venture and to thank him for his leadership since May 2019, especially during the unprecedented challenges of the last three months.
“Grant has spearheaded APTRA’s campaign across Asia Pacific, making a powerful case for the vital role travel retail plays in the wider economy in terms of employment and contribution to GDP.
“His drive has focused on gaining government commitment to include travel retail in financial support packages, engaging valuable news media across the region and galvanising greater involvement from APTRA members such as equipping them with the tools to target governments direct. I will build on Grant’s call to action and am asking for the support of everyone in the travel retail community.”
He added: “There has never been a more critical time for all industry players to work together and, if you’re not involved in supporting our various associations, then please consider how you could help. APTRA is at its strongest member number since inception 15 years ago.
“We have a tremendous power base to harness when our members join with APTRA to actively target their governments and political contacts, adding to the volume that travel retail must be included in financial support measures for the aviation industry.”
Fleming said: “The last 15 years have been tremendously exciting for the industry. I have had many rewarding opportunities, especially with Lagardère Travel Retail – an inspiring business with great leadership, boundless ambition and extensive creativity – during a transformational journey as one of the world’s leading travel retailers and F&B operators. I have witnessed a dynamic, positive shift of the travel retail industry and have enjoyed being part of those changes on a global stage.”
He added: “Representing APTRA as President has been an enormous honour. I’m pleased to pass the reins to Sunil’s capable hands. Despite the current crisis, travel retail in Asia Pacific is, without question, the most dynamic region in this industry and I have every faith in its potential to recover and grow even stronger, sooner or later.
“In these tough times, I want to encourage all businesses to be more actively involved in the campaign right now. Here in Asia and the Pacific the industry is stretched by the diversity of its players, broad geography and the wide spectrum of political stakeholders.
“I believe the unique, collective view and commitment of independent associations such as APTRA, and our sister associations around the world, acting for all aspects of the industry, are essential. Now is the time to support the industry; your individual actions and responses will be all the stronger for sharing expertise and working together.”
*Sunil Tuli recently took part in our new podcast series, In Crisis – Travel Retail Voices, where we speak to travel retail executives around the world to see how they and their businesses are coping with the COVID-19 crisis. Click on the link below to access the podcast.
Tuli said: “Business is suffering like never before – we’ve never seen anything like this before. We have to hold on; we have to wait for it to go away, we’ve got to take intense precautions to make sure we can contain this thing. It will go away. It’s a matter of time and a matter of every person in every country being responsible and we will get over this.”
[Click on the image to hear Sunil Tuli’s interview with Martin Moodie]
