A high-powered line-up of speakers for the welcome speech and keynote sessions has been revealed for the upcoming TR Consumer Forum, which is taking place from 4-6 September at the Parklane Resort & Spa in Limassol, Cyprus.

Under the theme ‘Curating a Customer-Centric Culture’, both the Monday and Tuesday keynote session speakers at the event will address a wide range of perspectives on how the customer is at the heart of the decision-making process across the tourism and travel retail sectors.

DAY 1 OPENING ADDRESS AND KEYNOTE SESSION (MONDAY 5 SEPTEMBER)

Cyprus Minister of Transport, Communications & Works, Yiannis Karousos, and executives from leading organisations including m1nd-set, Hermes Airports and ARI Middle East (ARIME) will be taking to the stage on Day 1 (Monday 5 September) to share global and local perspectives on the conference theme.

Karousos will kick-start proceedings with an opening address, during which he will highlight the various investments and initiatives the country, a major tourist destination, has been implementing to help ensure the Mediterranean island is top of mind for tourists as they take to the skies and seas once again.

“He will touch on the many challenges Cyprus has faced in recent months as crisis after crisis has impacted the island’s economy and the tourism sector in particular,” said Michael Barrett, Head of Events and Corporate Social Responsibility at TRBusiness.

“Russian travellers traditionally counted among the top inbound nationalities until earlier this year.”

Following on from the Minister, the audience will hear from Peter Mohn, CEO & Owner of m1nd-set, which co-organises the TR Consumer Forum alongside TRBusiness.

Mohn will deliver a state of the industry address, discussing the state of global air passenger traffic and cruise and ferry traffic in 2022 compared to pre-pandemic levels, as well as some of the major findings from m1nd-set’s extensive consumer research across all world regions.

The m1nd-set research, available exclusively at the event, is valued at six figures, if commissioned independently.

In this keynote session, delegates will also hear from Eleni Kaloyirou, CEO at Hermes Airports on how the company has navigated and continues to navigate through turbulent times to ensure commercial operations are in line with passenger expectations.

She will share how, with such a diverse passenger profile across Hermes Airports’ Cyprus locations, customer centric strategies are adopted across both Larnaca and Paphos Airports.

The session will also feature an address from the newly-appointed ARI Middle East (ARIME) CEO Rob Marriott.

Marriott, who succeeds the recently retired Richard Gray, will share how the region’s largest duty free retailer, in terms of geographical footprint, has adapted in the post-Covid world.

DAY 2 KEYNOTE SESSION (TUESDAY 6 SEPTEMBER)

The keynote session on Day 2 of the event (Tuesday 6 September) will see Fraser Brown, Retail & Property Director at London Heathrow Airport talk about how one of the world’s busiest airports has navigated through the recent months and stepped up its consumer-centric drive in the wake of fresh challenges over recent months.

Brown will also address how Heathrow is working with its existing and newly appointed commercial partners to ensure a top-class consumer experience at all levels of the customer journey through the airport.

He will be joined on stage by Sammy Patel, Vice President Commercial at Vantage Airport Group.

With such a diverse passenger profile across Vantage Airport Group’s broad portfolio of airports, customer centric strategies need to be tailored to each operation.

Patel will share the group’s vision on how customer centricity is defined in their ever-evolving economic and geopolitical context.

More information about the speakers participating in the conference will be revealed soon, as the conference agenda continues to scale up.

EarlyBird access to the TR Consumer Forum 2022, priced at £595, is available until 18 July 2022. After this date, the Standard Delegate Rate of £695 will apply.

To find out more about the conference, please visit the TR Consumer Forum website at TravelRetailConsumerForum.com.