More than 80 registered delegates representing African airport groups, retailers and distributors joined together recently in Livingstone, Zambia to attend the inaugural ACI Africa Commercial Forum at the ACI Africa Annual Congress.

 

Delegates also heard from four internationally renowned speakers who provided ‘insightful presentations’ on the ‘immense untapped commercial opportunities’ in African airports.

 

Those who gave presentations and contributed from the platform included Pedro Castro from Dufry, Stefan Van Gronigen from Gebr. Heinemann; m1nd-set’s Clara Perez and JC Decaux’s Alexandre Spezzoto-Simacourbe.

 

SECRETARY GENERAL TOUNSI ‘DELIGHTED’

The event began with an introduction from ACI Africa Secretary General Ali Tounsi and was moderated by Keith Spinks, Secretary General of the European Travel Retail Confederation (ETRC).

 

Spinks also addressed the annual congress on key regulatory threats that the industry is facing both internationally and also in Africa.

 

Commenting after the event, Ali Tounsi said he was delighted with it: “The feedback from our airports and business partners has been superb. Aviation in Africa is growing and for our airports to cope with that, we need to diversify and expand our commercial activity.

 

 

“The interest in today’s event proves that our airports are now ready to embrace these opportunities. This has been a great start for this initiative, which we now anticipate, will become a regular feature at all future ACI Africa conferences. African airports are open for business, and it is ACI’s role to help them fulfil that potential.”

 

SUCCESSFUL COMMERCIAL FORUM

Adding his comments, Keith Spinks said it was a privilege to support Ali Tounsi and the ACI Africa team and he now looks forward to building further on this relationship: “This inaugural Commercial Forum has been a great success and we look forward to it continuing to flourish in the years ahead,” said Spinks.

 

“Whilst the commercial opportunities in African airports are substantial, there are many potential industry and regulatory issues that could significantly curtail that growth. The African Commercial Forum is a platform to allow these issues to be debated and for solutions to be found.”

 

This inaugural meeting of the ACI Africa Commercial Forum was jointly sponsored by Dufry, Gebr. Heinemann, m1nd-set and Crossings International and ACI Africa said it was grateful to all of these organisations for their generous support.