TAIWAN. Everrich Duty Free Shop Corporation has won the terminal two liquor and tobacco concession from Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Co (TTL) at Taipei Chiang-Kai Shek (CKS) airport airport, The Moodie Report can reveal.
The contract is effective 1 July and runs for six years. It is a big coup for Everrich whose ceo Simon Chiang confirmed the award to The Moodie Report. Separately, TTL has retained its T1 concessions (as well as Kaohsiung airport previously), as did Everrich.
CKS is one of Asia’s most important duty free locations, thanks to the large number of outbound Taiwanese visiting mainland China and a heavy inbound Japanese tourism business. But the island and its travel industry has been devastated in recent weeks by the SARS outbreak, which has worsened considerably with 184 reported cases as of 12 May with a dozen new cases in the previous 24 hours.
CKS has two terminals. Terminal one currently accounts for approx 80% of sales with the newer T2 accounting for the balance. But that ratio will alter rapidly in the future.
Both terminals have a combination of retailers. Currently, T1 has two wings, with a mix of Everrich shops and TTL stores. For arrivals, T1 has two TTL shops and one Everrich shop. In T2, Everrich and sister operation Tasa Meng have several departure stores and TTL has one. For T2 arrivals, Everrich, Tasa Meng and TTL all have stores.
Both TTL and Everrich have seen their business hurt badly by SARS. The World Health Organization has issued an advisory warning travellers against non-essential visits to the Taiwanese capital Taipei. The outbreak of the SARS virus has claimed 20 lives in Taiwan, the fifth largest toll worldwide. For the first 21 days of April, TTL posted a near -60% fall in sales for tobacco alone as traffic slumped. Sources say that liquor sales have fallen by around -40% in April, with the worst downturn felt in the latter part of the month.
