02_singapore_2024_TUESDAY_ISSUE_WEB

T he joint campaign by TFWA and the Duty Free World Council – “Duty Free: Trusted, Transparent, Secure” – aims to underline the duty free & travel retail industry’s zero-tolerance approach to illegal practices, counterfeit and intellectual property theft. In yesterday’s TFWA Asia Pacific Conference, Erik Juul-Mortensen, TFWA President, explained that duty free & travel retail has one of the most transparent, trusted and secure supply chains in the world. “We can be proud of our industry’s credentials and are committed to maintaining these high standards,” he said. “One important way to underline that commitment is to join our campaign and sign the zero-tolerance declaration on illicit trade, counterfeit and IP theft. Many of our industry’s leading players, such as Avolta, Lagardère Travel Retail and Gebr. Heinemann, along with key players in this region like King Power and Delhi Duty Free, have already joined the campaign, and I urge the rest of the industry to follow suit.” The need for strong, public commitment to probity is illustrated by the World Health Duty Free: TTS campaign – a zero-tolerance approach to illegal practices, counterfeit and intellectual property theft Organization’s misplaced efforts to link duty free & travel retail with illicit trade in tobacco products as part of its Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. “The latest development in this matter is a decision in February by the Parties to the WHO’s Illicit Trade Protocol to proceed with evidence-based research to, and I quote, ‘ascertain the extent of illicit trade in tobacco products related to duty free sales’,” Juul- Mortensen explained. “The WHO seems to have already decided our industry is guilty and suggests it is just a question of how guilty. Nonetheless, we welcome the decision to conduct evidence-based research, as it provides us with an opportunity to show we are partners in the fight against illicit trade, not contributors to it.” In yesterday’s TFWA Asia Pacific Conference, Erik Juul-Mortensen, TFWA President, highlighted the joint campaign by TFWA and the Duty Free World Council – “Duty Free: Trusted, Transparent, Secure” – and explained that our industry has one of the most transparent, trusted and secure supply chains in the world. Swarovski reveal s i ts crystal -clear object ives K nown for its sparkle, Swarovski recently attended the Met Gala and has also started looking at the important role GTR has played now it is coming back to life post-pandemic. Speaking at the show, Swarovski Head of Global Travel Retail Andreea Marginean said: “When we come to TFWA we always have the same two objectives – discussing our collections with our partners and secondly building relationships with partners and meeting more people.” She explained: “Swarovski is very well-established in travel retail and what distinguishes us is that the strength of the business is equal in the Americas, Europe and APAC.” Marginean pointed out that part of this renaissance is returning to the category after an enforced hiatus. She admitted: “Last year was the first time coming back after five years. If I think back to what we have done even since last year, we have had such amazing growth by focusing on travel retail once again.” According to Marginean: “APAC has been and is now even more than before a good market for Swarovski. There are a lot of new airports and we want to be part of all of those projects. Wherever passengers are, we want to be there.” A lot of this, Marginean identified, was maintaining relevance and keeping the brand’s image at the forefront of people’s minds. For instance, she revealed: “We were recently part of the Met Gala and there was our creative director and some of our models who were wearing dresses adorned with Swarovski crystals and also our new collection and this was really exciting.” Marginean added: “We have a marine trend for the summer, with a collection of shells and a starfish in different forms. We see the infinity symbol is still iconic and is still a bestseller. We also see pearls in the trends for this year.” Level 1/1-R7 Tuesday 14 May 2024 26 T F W A D A I L Y