Welcome to This Week in Travel Retail, The Moodie Davitt Report’s regular round-up of how our industry is portrayed in the world’s consumer media. We present tall tales and true – from the quirky and the sensational to the investigative and critical – in a revealing look at how a global business sector is portrayed.
Turning on the inflight entertainment: Battling boredom at 30,000 feet is a common complaint from passengers, according to a study conducted by Icelandair. And so, the airline planned something special for its 80th anniversary, the Globe and Mail reported. Heeding the opinions of one-third of the passengers who said they’d be more likely to choose an airline that offered free live entertainment – Icelandair commissioned an inflight play.
Professional actors and cabin crew encouraged volunteers to take part in the ‘play in the clouds’ for some light, inflight entertainment. Quite what those travellers who avoid the slightest engagement with their fellow passengers made of it was not revealed. No doubt any backlash would have been dismissed as Much Ado about Nothing. And judging by the happy faces onboard, it seems to have been a case of All’s Well that Ends Well.
Maine event: Duty Free Philippines joined the social media masses in posting its ‘best nine’ moments of 2017 on Instagram. And all nine included Filipino actress and social media influencer Maine Mendoza, with whom the retailer embarked on a special campaign throughout the year. Shoppers were invited to enter a raffle draw to win a private dinner with Maine. Social media engagement was busy with the #DutyFreeMaineEvent post receiving 26,392 likes.
Tying the knot: A good airport always has plenty of fun and exciting things for travellers to do. But the list doesn’t usually extend to getting married. In Las Vegas though, the usual conventions don’t apply. A pop-up marriage licence office will be available for travellers at McCarran International Airport next month to coincide with the Valentine’s Day, President’s Day and Chinese New Year holidays, as reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Marking a milestone: Miami-based fragrance distributor Essence Corp celebrated its 30th anniversary this week. The family-owned company, founded in 1988, continues to serve travel retail in the Americas with distinction, professionalism and integrity.
The roots of the company were formed in Guillo & Bona (G&B), a Paris agency exporting luxury brands to the Caribbean and Central America, founded by Maurice Guillo and Jacques Bona. The agency introduced brands such as Dior, Rochas and Givenchy to the region. In 1974, Philippe and Jean-Jacques Bona joined the company as it expanded to South America. In 1982, Jean-Jacques and his wife Patricia opened a Panama branch while the company expanded to the US and Canada.
Licence to spill: Airports in the UK have had to defend their policies on selling alcohol in recent times following a flurry of so-called ‘air rage’ incidents. The UK government is now considering tougher licensing laws for airport bars, according to The Independent. Bars and pubs at terminals are currently allowed to operate outside normal UK licensing laws, but that benefit could soon be a thing of the past, the newspaper claimed. It cited a report by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) which found there were 418 instances of disruptive behaviour by passengers on UK flights in 2016. That was more than double the number seen the year before. See our report, ‘UK airports and food & beverage operators reject irresponsibility claims over alcohol’ for a more balanced take on the issue.
Fuel to the fire: In similar vein, a Ryanair flight was forced to divert after an allegedly drunk woman became “aggressive” during a flight from Alicante to Dublin after downing alcohol bought in duty free. A fellow passenger who also witnessed her behaviour on the outbound flight to Alicante warned airline staff she had been drinking heavily prior to boarding, reported Irish Central. The flight was diverted to Santander where the woman and her partner were offloaded by police.
The episode adds fuel to the fire over calls to better control the sale of alcohol at airports. “It’s incumbent on the airports to introduce these preventative measures to curb excessive drinking and the problems it creates, rather than allowing passengers to drink to excess before their flights,” stated Ryanair.
Cautionary tale: Disruption of a different kind in our final story. A video of a naked man rampaging naked through Phuket International Airport has gone viral. The South Korean tourist carrying an American passport ran amok at the Thai airport, yelling incoherently and smashing goods in King Power International’s duty free shop. He blamed his behaviour – including defecating in the terminal and throwing faeces at security guards – on an overdose of Viagra. The airport company issued a statement saying officers arrested the man “harmlessly” and followed a strict code of conduct, reported the Phuket Gazette. They were more tolerant than many would have been.
