Swiss research agency m1nd-set is partnering with travel retail associations to support the industry’s return to growth by providing traffic and shopping behaviour insights from its Business 1ntelligence Service (B1S) data tool.

Latin American association ASUTIL is the first regional association to adopt the monitor and share the insights with its members.

According to m1nd-set, the quarterly monitor reports will be free for all interested regional trade associations. Members will be able to view a summary of the key traffic trends and relevant shopper trends for the top nationalities travelling through their respective regions.

Report data will include regional passenger numbers, year-on-year growth data from 2019, projected traffic up to 2023, a focus on the top destinations from the region in 2019 and the top-10 nationalities and airports in the region for 2021. Key shopping behaviour insights of the top-four nationalities in the region and post-Covid shopping behaviour insights from across each region will be part of the report.

The Q1 report for Latin America reveals that international departures from the region fell by more than 68% between 2019 and 2020 — from 115.7 million passengers to 36.7 million in 2020. Growth is expected to be steady from 2021, with a +38.5% increase in outbound traffic.

OPTIMISTIC OUTLOOK

Next year will be even more positive, with a forecast of +74% growth and 88 million departures. The report predicts that 2019 traffic levels will be reached and surpassed in 2023, when outbound flights are forecast to grow by 37.5% to 121 million departing passengers.

The B1S LATAM recovery monitor highlights shopper insights from the top-four travelling nationalities through the region — the US, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. The monitor shows key trends for each nationality pre-Covid, along with post-Covid shopping intentions.

Just under three quarters of travellers from the region say they plan to travel again within the first six months after restrictions are lifted. Three out of four travellers, however, say they will reduce their business and leisure-related travel, compared to pre-Covid.

About six out of 10 travellers from the region have cut expenses and spend less on a daily basis since the Covid-19 pandemic, while 55% spend more time watching videos and online tutorials, on platforms such as YouTube.

Around one quarter would opt to shop online for their duty free and collect at the boarding gate or on arrival if the service is offered. The majority (64%) of shoppers will not be concerned about interaction with sales staff and will continue engaging with sales advisors, albeit while taking precautions.

M1nd-set owner and CEO Peter Mohn commented: “We have been working very closely with all the major regional trade associations for many years now, so we feel it is important to show our solidarity with them and their members in these difficult times.

“Positive news of the vaccine being rolled out in a growing number of countries is spreading optimism and we are seeing a significant spike in demand for the B1S recovery data among many of our major clients, as they plan ahead for the coming months.”

Jose-Luis Donagray, Secretary General at ASUTIL (pictured right) added: “ASUTIL endeavours to provide regular and relevant insights to our members through our events and insights. There has seldom been a greater need for data as now. All stakeholders in the region will be keen to understand how both traffic and shopping behaviour will evolve in the weeks and months ahead.

“We have worked with m1nd-set for almost a decade and this partnership approach is testimony to their continued strong work ethic and sincerely appreciated by all of us at ASUTIL”.