On 3 December, Lagardère Travel Retail opened two new stores in West Africa; an Aelia Duty Free store at Banjul International airport in Gambia and a Relay Travel Essentials store at Dakar’s railway station, in Senegal.

 

The company also confirmed this morning that it has plans to open new duty free and foodservice stores in Mauritania; an Aelia Duty Free shop and a Kepar Café, which are due to open on 21 December at Nouakchott–Oumtounsy International Airport.

 

“We are very committed to development in Africa, with a local development model,” Chief Business Officer at Lagardère Travel Retail, Lucio Rossetto told TRBusiness in a recent interview.

 

INFORMED BY LOCAL EXPERTISE

“Africa is a continent full of opportunity. Lagardère is there and we believe we should be guided by the people on site. We trust their expertise.”

 

 

“We’re very excited to be bringing these two flagship brands to African and international travellers,” added the company about the new stores in Gambia and Dakar.

 

In February this year, Lagardère Travel Retail was awarded, alongside local partners Bevco Limited, an exclusive concession to build and operate two Duty Free stores in the brand new Terminal 3 of Julius Nyerere International Airport (Dar es Salaam) in Tanzania.

 

At the time, the French travel retailer, said it was hoping to further capitalise on the region’s ‘resilience, attractiveness and air traffic’.