INTERNATIONAL. Over 60% of international travellers rank Sense of Place as an important part of their overall airport experience, according to new research.
m1nd-set’s Business 1ntelligence Service (B1S) report, which assesses the travel retail experience and shopper journey at over 100 airports around the world, found that airports in the Middle East and Asia offered the most satisfying expressions of the concept.
The Middle East received a 60% overall satisfaction score for Sense of Place, with 27% ‘excellent’ and 33% ‘very good’. Airports in Asia received a 61% satisfaction rating with 21% stating Sense of Place at airports in the region is ‘excellent’, and 40% ‘very good’.
The report noted that travellers were broadly seeking a ‘different’, ‘unique’, ‘local’ and ‘authentic’ shopping experience. “Travellers are not just seeking a different experience compared to other airports but also with regards to other retail channels,” m1nd-set said.
Millennials and low cost carrier flyers are the market segments most satisfied with their experience of Sense of Place at airports, the report found, while women tend to express greater satisfaction than men on this attribute.
“We are increasingly seeing the importance of differentiation in the travel retail sector,” said m1nd-set Owner & CEO Peter Mohn. “Passengers want a unique experience at each airport they fly through, both with the overall airport experience and the travel retail offer in particular.
“We see from our research that where passengers are given a unique experience thanks to excellent and innovative localised execution, whether in the airport design, the merchandising and retail layout or the product offering, they have a much stronger emotional connection and attachment to that airport. This positive emotional experience puts them in a state of mind which makes them more prone to shopping and which generates greater customer loyalty.”
The latest B1S report is based on over 20,000 face to face interviews at airports on all continents.
The Moodie Davitt Report has championed the concept of Sense of Place since our earliest days, and this is reflected in our regular Sense of Place column in The Moodie Davitt e-Zine, in association with Aer Rianta International (ARI).
