Tax Free World Association has unveiled further details of its impending TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition & Conference, which will once again be held in Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Center between 10-14 May 2015.

 

The event will begin with the traditional Welcoming Cocktail at the Raffles Hotel on Sunday May 10, followed by a day of plenary conference sessions and workshops and the three-day exhibition.

 

‘Staying a Step Ahead’ is this year’s conference theme, in line with the fast pace growth of travel and tourism in the region and the need for the DF&TR industry to remain both competitive and relevant.

 

In what appears to be a welcome new approach, this year’s event is set to open on the Monday with ‘exclusive filmed interviews’ with travellers for their insights at Singapore Changi Airport.

 

This will be followed by the welcome state of the industry address by TFWA President Erik Juul-Mortensen, who will relate the latest Asia Pacific travel retail data and examine the role brands and brand-owners play in helping the region to fulfil its potential.

 

 

 LIEW MUN LEONG TO GIVE KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Keynote addresses will be presented by Liew Mun Leong, founding President and CEO of CapitaLand Group, and Chairman of the Board of Directors at Changi Airport Group; and Andrew Wu, LVMH Group President, Greater China.

 

Liew Mun Leong has over 40 years of experience in construction and commercial real estate and has been instrumental in the development of Changi Airport. TFWA says he is ‘well placed’ to discuss the rise of Asia, and the challenges facing the region as it strives to retain its growth momentum.

 

Andrew Wu, meanwhile, has wide experience in the luxury goods business in Asia. As Managing Director of Parfums Christian Dior in China, he oversaw the successful establishment of the brand’s network in the country in the 1990s. After several years with Sony Entertainment Group, Wu rejoined LVMH as its group head in China, responsible for its rapid growth in Asia’s biggest marketplace. He was also a keynote speaker at the first China’s Century Conference in Beijing in 2013.

 

Following these speakers, a series of four workshops will also be available to delegates. TFWA describes them as follows:

 

WORKSHOP A: ‘Enhancing the customer experience’ will develop consumer insights and explore ways to create a real point of differentiation in duty free & travel retail; to use new communication tools to engage travellers more effectively; and to ensure in-store promotion and presentation matches the best of the High Street.

 

 

A DEVELOPING CHANNEL

WORKSHOP B: ‘Cruise control: exploring one of Asia’s fastest-growing travel retail sectors’ will examine this market, its current progress and potential, with insights on the opportunities for operators and brands both within the new generation of cruise terminals and onboard the vessels.

 

WORKSHOP C: ‘Competing in e-commerce’ workshop will explore how the duty free & travel retail industry can harness e-commerce and digital marketing to compete more effectively with other retail channels. This will feature an exclusive preview of a new study conducted by Counter Intelligence Retail entitled The Digital Age, offering insight into travelling shoppers’ experiences and engagement with digital media.

 

WORKSHOP D: ‘Asia’s rising stars’ will focus on some of the markets that are generating most excitement in the Asia Pacific industry today. Underpinned by research conducted by the Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association, the session will explore growth markets in the ASEAN region and in Australasia and look at how they are changing the travel retail landscape.

 

TFWA adds that between Workshops A/B and B/C there will be an Industry Association Working Lunch for invited delegates to discuss regulatory and other issues facing the industry in Asia Pacific, while most delegates will network over lunch in an adjoining room.

 

The Closing plenary session will bring everyone back together again for an address entitled ‘Competitiveness in a new world’. TFWA says this will focus on a world economy which is entering a new era of fragility, characterized by weaker growth, financial, monetary and price instability.

 

 

 ‘WORLD AUTHORITY ON COMPETITIVENESS’

Stéphane Garelli, a ‘world authority on competitiveness’ having pioneered this new field of economics, will give the keynote address. He is a professor at the International Institute for Management Development and at the University of Lausanne, and the founder of the World Competitiveness Center.

 

TFWA adds that the TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition will open on 12 Tuesday at 09.00-18.00, Wednesday 09.00-18.00 and Thursday 09.00-17.00.

 

It adds that the ever popular ONE2ONE pre-arranged meetings service ‘will co-ordinate appointments between key stakeholders and glamorous social occasions’, including the TFWA Asia Pacific, Bar, the poolside Chill-Out Party and the Singapore Swing Party.