Tax Free 2011 Results
A very bright future lays ahead of Duty Free
On a press conference in the presence of TFWA Board members Vice-president Marketing Sylvie Lavagno, Vice-President Commercial Erik Thomsen, Vice-President Conference and Research Thom Rankin, and Managing Director Alain Maingreaud, TFWA President, Erik Juul-Mortensen provided a very positive assessment of the 2011 Tax Free edition: a turnover increase of 9%, over 40 new exhibitors and 6 to 7% renewal on an exhibition area of over 20,000 square meters. The most significant areas of growth were in delegations from Asia at +15% and Europe +11% with +13% from Africa, +4% from the Americas and a drop of -6% from the Middle East and -12% from Oceania. In this regard Alain Maingreaud said in an interview: "a very bright future lays ahead of Duty Free, with new built and under construction airports; most of them are managed by states but they are more and more often under private management. China alone has plans to build more than 40 airports. Before their building, architects first plans shops space, often proposing prestigious brands, who offered for sale will fund the cost of the airport." He also states that Tax Free is a meeting of faithful exhibitors but the 20,000 square meters are no longer sufficient, because of around 40 additional exhibitors, every square must must be looked for and in the future, the installation of exhibition tents around the Palais des Festivals would be considered to accommodate all these people.
