The influencer judges for the consumer-voted Global Travel Retail Awards gathered in London last month to assess the entries across the full gamut of product and CSR & retail initiatives categories in this year’s programme.

The intensive judging weekend gathered a vibrant group of influencers to experience the product entries first-hand, giving them the opportunity to try, taste and touch the various items in order to inform their scoring.

Aside the rigorous judging process, the influencers took it in turns to stop by the ‘interview room’ allowing TRBusiness to pose questions to them on all things travel retail.

The video interviews capture their valuable observations of the channel, including what inspires them to shop and the factors they believe would help to unlock more visits and purchases.

The influencer judges shared their observations of travel retail in a series of video interviews during a busy day of adjudications.  

We will be sharing soundbites from the influencers over the coming weeks culminating in a video compilation that’s set to be shown at the Global Travel Retail Awards ceremony on Tuesday 30 September in Cannes. Please click the button below to secure your tickets.

This year’s Global Travel Retail Awards will yet again make its mark on the DF&TR industry by shining a light on the brands and initiatives that shoppers truly rate.

Indeed, since it was established in 2018, the awards stand out for being the only consumer-voted awards for the travel retail industry, making the accolades a valuable tool in any stakeholder’s armoury.

Stay tuned to TRBusiness.com for influencer judges soundbites, coming soon.

To reflect the evolving trading landscape, new categories added this year include Best Airport Activation (out-of-store), Best Airport Retail Initiative (Special Occasion) and Best Airport Retail Initiative (Campaign) – all of which are an evolution of the incredibly popular Airport Retail Initiative category, which launched in 2024 and has this year been refined to encompass Airport Retail Initiative (in-store).

For the full list of categories and descriptions, please see here.

The influencer judges for 2025 convened in London for the three-day judging weekend. 

Thank you to all those who entered – we wish you the very best of luck!

Join us at the ceremony on 30 September

The 2025 Global Travel Retail Awards ceremony is taking place on Tuesday 30 September at Hôtel Martinez in Cannes. This is once again timed to coincide with the TFWA World Exhibition & Conference in Cannes.

A packed room at the consumer-voted Global Travel Retail Awards 2024.

Tickets are on sale now through 23 September, subject to availability, meaning there’s just nine weeks left to secure your seat in the room.

Single tickets are priced at £390.95 + VAT (20%).

If you would like to treat your colleagues and/or business partners to a memorable evening with fantastic networking, you may want to consider purchasing a table of 10 for £3,709.50 + VAT (20%).

All ticket holders will enjoy a welcome reception with drinks and hors d’oeuvres, a delicious three-course dinner, a seat at the spectacular live ceremony, an after- party with live music from popular band Brightlights, plus a gift bag.

Finalists will once again have two chances to be invited up onto the stage to collect an award with trophies for the winners and our compact shopping-bag-style gongs for those earning Highly Recommended status, which have proven a hit following their introduction last year.

The consumer stamp of confidence…

Established in 2018, the Travel Retail Awards stands out for being judged entirely by shoppers.

Entries are assessed by 5,000 consumers, who are independently sourced from data partner m1nd-set’s unique and qualified database of international travellers. This stage of the judging process makes up 80% of the overall score.

Those recognised in the 2024 accolades celebrate their newfound ‘Voted by Shoppers’ status.

The remaining 20% comes from a panel of influencers (bloggers and vloggers) who possess a range of product and travel expertise.

The panel has the added benefit of being able to touch, feel and try out the product entries during a three-day qualitative judging session in London.

Being recognised in the awards not only validates a company’s hard work and success in the channel, but utilising the logo on packaging and at the point of sale can also provide a boost for business.

Insights by m1nd-set show that 22% of consumers are more likely to purchase a product displaying the ‘Voted by Shoppers’ Finalist logo, while nearly a third (31%) of consumers are more likely to purchase a product displaying the ‘Voted by Shoppers’ Winner logo.

Plus, all entrants receive valuable feedback from our panel of influencer judges.

To find out more, please visit www.travelretailawards.com

READ MORE: NEWS ALERT: New category added to Global Travel Retail Awards 2025

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READ MORE: Asia Pacific Travel Retail Awards 2025: The Winners

READ MORE: Global Travel Retail Awards 2025: Entries now open!

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