As an industry service and in response to huge demand, The Moodie Davitt Report is attempting (we use that term as we need your help) to create a regularly updated database of how the coronavirus is affecting the travel retail sector through current and future store closures (and hopefully re-openings).
This list is nowhere near definitive [we will begin the increasingly daunting task of a global round-up in coming hours] and the situation is in flux, so email Martin Moodie at Martin@MoodieDavittReport.com if you have any new developments to add.
22 March
THAILAND. 
King Power Rangnam, the Thai travel retailer’s flagship location and one of Asia’s and the world’s most important duty free doors, has closed today in line with a new government edict that orders the temporary closure of all shopping centres, entertainment venues and markets. As reported, the travel retailer’s other Bangkok store, King Power Srivaree, was already shut temporarily.
King Power Rangnam will remain closed from today until 12 April, the retailer confirmed. Simultaneously, the airport drop-off service in Bangkok will be suspended. The Pattaya and Phuket downtown stores remain open as does online duty free.
The Thai judiciary announced today that in view of the latest developments on the COVID-19 outbreak, the General Adjourned Period, which has been in effect since 29 January will be extended for two weeks from 23 March until 5 April and be subject to further review. Thailand has reported 411 confirmed cases as of late afternoon today.
King Power said it will actively cooperate with the government’s decision to jointly fight the epidemic.
20 March
UAE. Dubai Duty Free today closed its arrivals stores at Dubai International Airport (DXB), the retailer’s Executive Vice Chairman Colm McLoughlin told The Moodie Davitt Report.
UK. Manchester Airport will close Terminals 2 and 3 from 25 March. All flights will instead depart from Terminal 1.
A spokesman said: “Like all airports across the world, Manchester Airport has experienced a significant fall in passenger volumes as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Given this reduction in departing and arriving flights, and the likelihood traffic will decline further, we have taken the decision to work towards operating from a single terminal.”
LUXEMBOURG. Luxembourg Findel Airport is to cease commercial flights from Monday 23 March. National airline Luxair is to suspend all operations from 24 March to 19 April, with its LuxairTours business closing from 23 March to 30 April.
SWEDEN. Swedavia has said operations will be concentrated temporarily to certain sections at its bigger airports, including Stockholm Arlanda. Passenger volumes have fallen by 70-90% in recent days, according to the airport operator. “We will do our utmost to safeguard our mission of providing access at all ten of our airports to meet current demand from commercial traffic and air ambulance flights,” said Swedavia President and CEO Jonas Abrahamsson.
At Stockholm-Arlanda Airport, from today (20 March), all Terminal 3 traffic has been relocated to Terminal 5. This follows the shift of all T4 traffic to T5 on 18 March.
Some commercial services remain open, mainly in T5, including the Dufry-run duty free shop and luxury boutiques, with shop and restaurant operating hours adjusted to trimmed-down flight schedules.
UK. Heathrow Airport has pledged to remain open throughout the coronavirus outbreak. The airport said it was reducing its operating costs to deal with the financial implications of COVID-19, but did not say any retail or food & beverage outlets were to close.
CROATIA. Dubrovnik Airport has ceased commercial flights, domestic and international, after an airport worker was confirmed to have contracted COVID-19. The closure, which began on Thursday, initially runs until 28 March. The travel retail business is managed in-house by the airport company, with supply from Gebr Heinemann.
Other major airports in Croatia, including Zagreb and Split, remain open.
19 March
IRELAND. The operator of Dublin and Cork airports, daa, has said it will scale back its passenger operations at the two airports, but that it does plan to keep the airports operational.
CAYMAN ISLANDS. Owen Roberts International Airport in Grand Cayman and Charles Kirkconnell International Airport in Cayman Brac will be closed from 22 March until 12 April.
UK. As part of its consolidation plan, Edinburgh Airport has said it will temporarily close a number of retailers and food & beverage outlets, as well as close certain areas of its terminal.
SERBIA. Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport today suspended all arriving and departing international flights, following a decree issued by the Serbian government. The airport remains open for humanitarian flights and cargo traffic. The airport is controlled by Vinci Airports, with Dufry managing the duty free shops.
RUSSIA. Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport will close Terminal E and Terminal C as of midnight tomorrow (20 March). All flights will be transferred to Terminal D and Terminal F.
JAPAN. KIX Duty Free, the retail brand owned and run by Kansai Airports, has announced store closures and changes to opening hours at Kansai International, effective until 31 March.
The main South Wing airside departures KIX Duty Free store (Terminal 1) is open from 7am to midnight. The following stores are open from 8am to 9pm: KIX Duty Free North Wing; Duty Free Shop Les Cosme (beauty); Issey Miyake; Clé de Peau Beauté; IQOS, Chanel and Chanel Fragrance & Beauty. KIX Duty Free in T2 is open from 5.30pm to 8pm.
Closed are other KIX Duty Free shops in the South and North wings, including gate shops. Pre-order pick-up is now at the main South Wing T1 store.
SOUTH KOREA. The Shilla Duty Free confirmed to The Moodie Davitt Report that it is closing its store at Gimpo International Airport until at least 28 March. The move mirrors that of perfumes & cosmetics retailer Lotte Duty Free, which closed its Gimpo shop on 12 March. Located in the capital city Seoul, Gimpo serves primarily short-haul traffic from Mainland China, Japan and China.
The Shilla Duty Free operates across 730sq m of space at Gimpo, with exclusivity in liquor & tobacco.
The company has also just informed The Moodie Davitt Report that it has temporarily closed its operation at Jeju International Airport as there are no international flights until at least 28 March.
CHINA. Important – and highly encouraging – news from China and its leading travel retailer China Duty Free Group (CDF).
Responding postively to our call for information on closures and reopenings, President Charles Chen (safe and well along with all the CDF team we are glad to say) sent us the following updated information:
- CDF closed 135 stores at the peak of China’s COVID-19 outbreak; e.g. as reported, the Sanya CDF Mall and Haikou downtown store on Hainan Island were closed on 26 January.
- Some closed stores have reopened due to the recovery in China. The CDF Mall and Haikou stores reopened on 20 February. “Other airport stores are being reopened gradually,” CDF told us. Everything is being assessed carefully in line with Chinese government guidelines and with an eye to the global COVID-19 outbreak.”
“CDF will recheck its stores’ business hours by paying close attention to the Chinese and global coronavirus situation,” the state-controlled retailer told The Moodie Davitt Report. “CDF has no permanent or indefinitely closed stores.”
BERMUDA. Bermuda Duty Free, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gosling Brothers, is temporarily closing its arrivals duty free store at LF Wade International Airport in light of the health crisis. Managing Director Charles Gosling told The Royal Gazette: “We have experienced the upheaval from 9/11, the ban on liquids and gels, Hurricane Fabian and numerous other storms.
“This will be the first time in our operating history where we have had to close a store while the LF Wade Airport remains open. We thank [airport operators] Skyport for their support and look forward to the day we can reopen and welcome our visitors and fellow Bermudians home.”
[Source: The Royal Gazette]
CANADA. In common with many land border duty free retailers, long-established Niagara Duty Free, located on the Canadian side of the Rainbow Bridge in Ontario, has closed until further notice due to COVID-19. The same goes for Peace Arch Duty Free, Canada’s largest duty free border store, based in Surrey, British Columbia. All staff are on leave and there has been no traffic for the last week, according to owner Peter Raju. [Source: Travel Markets Insider]
CANADA. Both the Osoyoos Duty Free and Kingsgate Duty Free stores remain open but sales are down roughly -80% some days and -50% respectively year-on-year. “The only fortunate part of this is its timing, we are very seasonal, so it isn’t an overly busy time anyway,” Cam Bissonnette, General Manager of Osoyoos Duty Free, told Travel Markets Insider. “Very hopeful that we can get this contained by the May long weekend.”
CARIBBEAN. Owen Roberts International Airport in Grand Cayman and Charles Kirkconnell International Airport in Cayman Brac (the easternmost island of the Caymans) and all its stores will be closed for three weeks from 22 March through 12 April. St Maarten is in the midst of a two-week restriction on visitors from a host of international destinations. [Source: Caribbean Journal]
ISRAEL. Ramon Airport remains opens for minimal flights. The JR/Duty Free Shop remains open but with minimal opening. Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv remains open across two of its concourses with extremely light traffic. All shops and most F&B outlets remain closed. JR/Duty Free, James Richardson – a joint venture between JR and Gebr Heinemann of Germany – operates the duty free concession.
NORDICS. Tallink Grupp has suspended the operation of its vessels Silja Serenade and Silja Symphony on the Helsinki-Stockholm route. Both have previously thriving duty free operations.
EGYPT. Egypt temporarily halted flights to its airports until 31 March.
MONTENEGRO. Both the country’s airports (Podgorica in the capital and Tivat on the southwest coast) are closed, except for repatriation and official aircraft. No-one is allowed into the country except citizens and those with residency visas. All international bus, ferry and train services are suspended. Land borders are closed for passenger traffic and will only allow commercial vehicles to pass through. The duty free stores in both airports have been closed since last Friday.
SRI LANKA. All international airports closed until 25 March.
18 March
NORWAY. Avinor closed nine regional airports (Vardø, Berlevåg, Sørkjosen, Stokmarknes, Svolvær, Mo i Rana, Mosjøen, Førde and Sandane) to commercial traffic for an indefinite period.
FRANCE. Nice Côte d’’Azur Airport temporarily closed Terminal 1 and moved all services to Terminal 2.
CANADA/US. US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed to close the US-Canada border to all non-essential travel, a huge blow to the land border duty free trade on either side of the crossing.
GERMANY. Shops and restaurants at Munich Airport closed until 30 March following a general ruling issued by the Bavarian State Ministry of Health and Care prohibiting the opening of retail outlets. This excludes food retailers, beverage markets, banks, pharmacies and drug stores. These closures were reflected in many airports across Germany.
MALAYSIA. Valiram Group closed its stores across Kuala Lumpur International Airport until 31 March.
17 March
AUSTRIA. Vienna Airport closed most shops and restaurants. A limited service will be maintained that includes grocery stores and the pharmacy in Terminal 1.
ITALY. Rome Fiumicino T1 closed temporarily, with all operations shifting to Terminal 3.
JORDAN. Amman Queen Alia International halted flights until further notice.
LATVIA. Riga International Airport suspended service until at least 14 April.
FERRY. Tallink Grupp suspended operations on its Tallinn-Helsinki route until further notice.
PHILIPPINES. Duty Free Philippines closed its Ninoy Aquino International Airport shops and all other stores and online activities nationwide, on top of Fiestamall and Duty Free Luxe in Manila which were closed on Sunday.
SWITZERLAND. Zürich Airport closed most shops and restaurants until at least 19 April. Some outlets will remain open, among them pharmacies, grocery stores, kiosks and takeaway food services.
SRI LANKA. Palali International Airport was closed to international flights.
16 March
MACEDONIA. Ohrid St. Paul the Apostle Airport suspended operations.
CRUISE. Royal Caribbean Cruises suspended all sailings until 11 April.
UAE. Abu Dhabi International Airport closed Terminal 2, with flight operations redirected to other terminals.
15 March
PHILIPPINES. Duty Free Philippines closed its Fiesta Mall and Luxe Duty Free stores in Manila
FRANCE. Groupe ADP closed its shops and restaurants at Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Orly airports. “All non-essential shops at Paris-CDG and Paris-Orly airports will be closed from midnight on 15 March until further notice. Relay shops, mini-markets, pharmacies and takeaway food-only stores will remain open,” Aude Ferrand, Groupe ADP Retail Director Shops, Food & Beverage, Advertising, Financial services under Terminals, told The Moodie Davitt Report.
ISRAEL. Israel Airports Authority closed all its shops and most food & beverage outlets at Ben Gurion International Airport, following a government directive.
ESTONIA/SWEDEN. Tallink Grupp suspended sailings on its Tallinn-Stockholm until further notice.
14 March
ITALY. Rome Ciampino, which handles mainly low-cost flights and is a hub for Ryanair, closed to passenger traffic
PAKISTAN. Quetta, Sialkot, Multan, Faisalabad and Peshawar airports all closed to international flights.
13 March
US. The government suspended inbound travel by foreign nationals coming from the Schengen Area in Europe.
CRUISE. Costa Cruises postponed the global operations of its ships until 3 April.
12 March
CRUISE. Princess Cruises announced it was pausing its global operations of 18 cruise ships for two months, impacting all voyages departing between 12 March and 10 May.
CZECH REPUBLIC. The Czech Republic closed its borders to travellers from 15 countries. Prime Minister Andrej Babis declared an initial 30-day state of emergency, covering foreign nationals travelling from Germany, Austria, Italy, Sweden, Norway, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Denmark, Switzerland, China, South Korea, Iran and the UK.
CRUISE. Viking Cruises suspended operations of its river and ocean cruises for all embarkations until 30 April with immediate effect.
SOUTH KOREA. Lotte Duty Free closed its cosmetics & fragrance operation at Gimpo International Airport. The company said that flight schedules had been reduced to one or two per day and that there are “virtually no duty free shoppers”.
11 March
JAPAN. NAA Retailing closed some of its FaSoLa Duty Free core category and destination merchandise stores airside at Narita International Airport terminals 1, 2 and 3 until 31 March. Many other shops and restaurants have adjusted their opening hours. The closures and changes to operating hours are initially running to 31 March in most cases.
LEBANON. Beirut International Airport was closed. It will remain closed until at least 29 March.
INDIA. The Indian government suspended most visitor visas until 15 April, effectively halting foreign travel into the country in that period.
8 March
ITALY. DFS Group complied with a government request to close stores in the ‘red zone’, which includes its T Fondaco dei Tedeschi store in Venice.
2 March
THAILAND. King Power Srivaree Complex in Bangkok, one of the retailer’s two downtown stores in the Thai capital, closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak and a related slump in Chinese tour group traffic.
ITALY. DFS Group started operating its T Fondaco dei Tedeschi store in Venice on reduced hours (10am to 7pm daily).
8 February
CHINA (HONG KONG). DFS shut down T Galleria by DFS, Hong Kong in Tsim Sha Tsui East; and Hong Kong T Galleria Beauty by DFS, Moko from 8 to 29 February.
7 February
SOUTH KOREA. Lotte Duty Free temporarily shut down its flagship Seoul Myeong-dong store after it was revealed the country’s 23rd COVID-19 patient (a female Chinese traveller from Wuhan) had visited the Lotte Department Store on the same site. The store reopened on 10 February.
6 February
CHINA (MACAU). DFS Group suspended operations across its seven stores in Macau. They reopened as scheduled on 20 February
3 February
SOUTH KOREA. Lotte Duty Free shuts its Jeju downtown store to prevent the spread of the coronavirus domestically. The store resumed operations on 7 February.
SOUTH KOREA. The Shilla Duty Free shuts down its downtown stores in Seoul and Jeju. These reopened on 7 February.
26 January
CHINA. China Duty Free Group closes its busiest duty free location, the cdf Mall in Haitang Bay, Sanya. For many beauty suppliers this is their biggest travel retail door in the world. The store reopened on 20 February
23 January
CHINA. Wuhan Tianhe International Airport closed.
