Branquinho has been elected on a two-year term.

Sarah Branquinho has been elected as the new Duty Free World Council (DFWC) President for a two-year term following the association’s AGM.

The former European Travel Retail Confederation (ETRC) President succeeds Frank O’Connell, who expressed his adulation for Branquinho as someone who is best placed to ‘lead the Council to the next level’.

As the current External Affairs Advisor at Dufry, Branquinho had previously served on the board of ETRC and is well-known and respected in the industry with a long history of advocating on behalf of duty free and travel retail.

STRONG AND PERSISTENT CONTRIBUTION

Branquinho commented: “I am honoured to have been entrusted with taking the Duty Free World Council forward over the next two years. Under Frank O’Connell’s superb leadership, the DFWC has become a vocal and effective advocate for our industry in the face of many challenges to the way we operate.

“I look forward to working with the regional associations and TFWA to protect and promote the duty free and travel retail channel and the contribution it makes to the travel and tourism ecosystem.”

Frank O’Connell has been associated with the DFWC since its inception.

In a statement, the DFWC Board added it was pleased to have someone of Branquinho’s calibre take over the responsibility of promoting the global interests of the industry, while simultaneously praising O’Connell.

Having served as President since the DFWC’s founding six years ago, O’Connell has facilitated the association’s interaction with relevant global organisations to protect and support the interests of DF&TR.

“I am very pleased to hand on the responsibility for the future development of the Council to Sarah, who I have worked closely with for many years,” added O’Connell.

The new DFWC Board is comprised of Sarah Branquinho, President; Grant Fleming, President, APTRA; Gustavo Fagundes, President, ASUTIL; Nigel Keal, President, ETRC; Abe Taqtaq, President, Frontier Duty Free Association (FDFA); René Riedi, Chairman, IAADFS; Haitham Al-Majali, President, MEADFA; and Alain Maingreaud, President, TFWA.