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Welcome to the MEADFA Guide, the official publication of the Middle East & Africa Duty Free Conference 2015, written and produced by The Moodie Report.
The Guide is available in full – editorial and advertising – through our unique online digital format and will be distributed in hard copy to delegates at the MEADFA Conference in Jordan on 23-24 November.
While the pace of investment in airport and airline infrastructure continues at pace, this has also been a year of turbulence for travel retail in the MEADFA region. The perennial challenges of political and religious conflict in (or related to) parts of the Middle East are more acute than ever, as shown by the terror attacks in Tunisia and Egypt, and most recently extended to France.
In business terms, there are other big issues too. The softening of Chinese spend overseas, and the continuing slump in outbound Russian travel, have hit many retailers hard. But for some, the key challenge has been the strength of the US Dollar, to which many of the region’s currencies are tied, notably against the Euro.
That has sharply affected pricing among some of the region’s biggest players. In the pages ahead, both Dubai Duty Free Executive Vice Chairman Colm McLoughlin and Qatar Duty Free Senior Vice President Keith Hunter – representing the region’s two biggest travel retail locations – call on brand owners to respond with action.
That’s an issue sure to be aired this week during the MEADFA Conference. The event takes place amid a backdrop of challenges, as noted, but also as many MEADFA members are committed to lifting shopping and service standards at their locations.
World Duty Free Group, duty free concessionaire at Amman and one of our hosts in Jordan this week, should benefit from an expansion of space at Queen Alia Airport in 2016, but also from investment in Kuwait and in Saudi Arabia.
Dufry, with the acquisition of WDFG, now manages an enviable regional portfolio, one that stretches from Accra to Morocco to Sharjah. At Sharjah, a big commercial upgrade is planned, starting around now, with new stores and concepts (such as Hudson) joining its core category business.
Elsewhere, Dubai Duty Free is preparing for its next wave of expansion, with over 7,000sq m of space set to come into play at Dubai International’s Concourse D in early 2016.
Qatar Duty Free is rolling out new space too, with the unveiling recently of stores in the North Node at Hamad International Airport.
Aer Rianta International-Middle East is another pioneering company in Middle East duty free, and it too is plotting a vast investment in new stores, in this region and worldwide, to the tune of over US$50 million.
In this edition we also profile a number of other travel retailers in this region, from Iraq Duty Free to IDFS Morocco; we also talk about inflight retail with Traveller Limited and about the African opportunity with Tourvest.
We hope this Official MEADFA Guide offers some valuable insights into the region and that you find this edition an enjoyable and informative read.
