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Wednesday 1 3 May 2026 4 T F W A D A I L Y Asia Pacific travel retail is rebounding, but the market is evolving in new ways. Yesterday morning’s workshop, AP Travel Retail Pulse – a Health Check and the Innovation Imperative, unveiled an exclusive TFWA study conducted by Oliver Wyman, o ff ering a fresh, data-driven snapshot of the region’s duty free and travel retail landscape. AP Travel Retail Pulse – a Health Check and the Innovation Imperative O pening the session, Oliver Wyman Partners Jacky Lui and Waldemar Jap presented key findings on the shifts shaping the recovery – from passenger spending behaviour and category dynamics to the changing ways travellers are shopping across the region. They outlined a clear message: while macro conditions are improving, travel retail is still under-indexing versus the wider travel recovery. “Asia Pacific travel retail is recovering, but not by returning to the old playbook,” they told a tt endees. “Tra ffi c, tourism spend, and consumer sentiment are improving, yet travel retail is still not capturing its full share of that recovery. That creates both a warning and an opportunity.” The warning, they explained, is that growth will not return through footfall alone. “The opportunity is to improve travel retail’s conversion rate with stronger propositions: relevance, experience, exclusivity, convenience, and digital engagement.” They urged the audience to act quickly on this shift. “We hope the industry understands the urgent need for change and takes action quickly to build a sustainable future,” they added. The workshop is based on an extensive Oliver Wyman research programme combining long-term behavioural analysis with new consumer insight. This includes a 2026 survey of 2,250 travellers across Mainland China and India, alongside interviews with more than 40 senior industry executives. “This is a data-led view of Asia Pacific travel retail at a critical point in the recovery cycle,” Jacky Lui and Waldemar Jap explained. “It combines consumer sentiment, travel willingness, luxury spending outlook, airport shopping behaviour, and executive perspectives on innovation and growth. The result is a practical view of where the industry must adapt next.” One of the clearest messages emerging from the study is the disconnect between travel recovery and retail performance. While tourism spend and international arrivals rebounded strongly between 2021 and 2025, travel retail has lagged behind. Structural shifts in luxury consumption are also reshaping the landscape. “Chinese luxury spending has increasingly shifted onshore,” they said. “The overseas share fell from 55% in 2019 to around 24-25% in 2025-2026, with no clear sign of meaningful recovery.” Category performance remains uneven, with tobacco and electronics broadly back to 2019 levels, while beauty, wines and spirits, and confectionery continue to lag. “Recovery will be won through conversion, mix, and relevance – not just passenger volumes,” Jacky Lui and Waldemar Jap stressed. Looking ahead, the speakers identified pre- trip engagement as a critical growth lever. “A large proportion of travellers already plan duty free purchases in advance: 75% of a ffl uent Chinese shoppers and 88% of a ffl uent Indian shoppers in our survey,” they said. “Pre-trip engagement is no longer optional.” They also pointed to persistent friction in the airport experience, including limited assortment, time pressure and inconvenient shopping journeys. The near-term innovation agenda, they argued, must focus on practical improvements: “Be tt er pre-ordering, richer product discovery tailored to local cultures, personalised o ff ers, easier pick-up.” Waldemar Jap, Partner, Oliver Wyman: “The industry has reasons to be optimistic, but optimism alone will not close the conversion gap. No single player can solve relevance, data, experience, and conversion alone.”