Branquinho marked her first presidential address in Cannes and her 42nd time at the show. Pictured is TFWA’s refreshed branding.

Ways to transform the extraordinary growth in travel into sustainable growth for travel retail was the key message from Tax Free World Association (TFWA) President Sarah Branquinho in her state of the industry address which opened the 2026 TFWA World Conference.

At a time of economic uncertainty, evolving traveller expectations and profound shifts in global commerce, Branquinho reflected on the industry’s current position and the opportunities emerging for duty free and travel retail in a rapidly changing world.

She began by highlighting the enormous potential for of the travelling population to grow with just 1.4 billion passport holders out of the population of 8.3 billion (6.3bn adults).

“But more travellers does not necessarily mean more shoppers,” she underscored. “And more traffic does not guarantee more value.

“That poses for me one of the most important questions facing our industry today: how to turn the extraordinary growth in travel into sustainable growth for travel retail.”

The first step to this is navigating the market which has been shaped by geopolitical uncertainty, trade tensions, exchange rate volatility and pressure on consumer confidence and disruption across travel and supply chains.

Add to this the European Union’s Entry/Exit System (EES) system, which has posed difficulties for some passengers and, inevitably, impacted airport retail. But this is just part of a bigger picture of what is happening with regards to passenger spend.

“While passenger numbers have recovered, their recovery is not translating to sales at the same rate, The way people spend their money at airports has been changing since before Covid and although passenger traffic is now above 2019 levels, largely, the same uplift is not showing up at the tills.”

Retail revenue per passenger was $1.73 in 2024, +7.2% vs. 2023 and -21.3% vs. 2019 according to the ACI World Airport Economics Database (2026).

Duty-free and travel retail sales edges up to an estimated US$76 billion in 2025. Fragrance and cosmetics lead the way for sales with a 32.3% market share (though this has dropped -3.2% in FY25/24). All other core categories have gained ground, according to Generation research (August 2026).

Branquinho also relayed the high conversion rate of cruise passengers and strong growth of the Uruguay/Brazil border business.

“The fundamentals are encouraging,” she said. “Growth is real but it’s not evenly distributed and it can’t be taken for granted. Where the numbers are tougher – spend per head chiefly among them – our task is not to wait for the market to solve the problem for us. It won’t. It’s to make ourselves more relevant to the traveller and that is, above all, a collective effort.”

TFWA’s stance is to unite and protect what makes the travel retail industry distinctive, creating a strength of voice behind all stakeholders. The lack of robust, accessible retailer sell-out data is key to this.

“We have yet to demonstrate our industry’s real value at top-line level,” said Branquinho.

She continued: “Faced with increasingly demanding government regulation, sharper questions from investors – estimates alone are no longer enough. We need to be able to demonstrate our collective value backed by genuine point of sale data.”

Building on ETRC’s successful Business Performance Index, managed by Pi Insight, TFWA is now in talks with global retailers about extending that to form the backbone of a high-level sell-out database.

This would give the industry, for the first time, a stronger, more consistent picture of the industry’s performance while protecting the commercial sensitivities of individual businesses.

It needs retailers accounting for at least 70% of total industry turnover onboard for a robust tool.

“My ambition is that when we meet here next year, we would have moved forward and moved beyond discussing the framework and have the foundation for a credible global sell-out database in place.”

Branquinho highlighted the need for radical change in travel retail by becoming much more deliberate about how to translate the industry’s strength for the next generation of travellers.

Communicating the channel’s authenticity in terms of product, and special service of the frontline staff is key to this.

“Travel retail can unlock growth but only if we continue to reinvent our proposition around price, assortment and experience while recognising a broader mix of traveller profiles.”

Good value, discovery, relevance and giving passengers a reason to engage are all vitally important – as is building an offering potentially around shopper missions to rather than core categories. Ultimately, it needs to be exciting and fun to shop.

“Our true differentiator remains that personalised, discovery, sampling, storytelling – the things that turn attention into desire, and desire into a sale,” she said. “Get the digital and experiential working hand in hand and you have the single most powerful lever – the desirability, emotional connection and conversion.”

Next year’s TFWA World Exhibition & Conference is taking place from 3-7 October 2027.

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