Left: Lagardère Travel Retail CEO Frédéric Chevalier. Right: Discover Türkiye souvenir concept at the Relay store in Türkiye.

Lagardère Travel Retail CEO Frédéric Chevalier unpacks travel retail’s hot topics, from navigating the pressure on spend per passenger, to restoring confidence in travel retail pricing and how the behaviours of younger travellers poses a challenge to the established core categories in duty free. 

Lagardère Travel Retail is making great gains this year, with strong Q3 results reported last week. Prior to this, when TRBusiness caught up with Chevalier for the October issue cover feature, he was keen to stress that the overall picture is, indeed, positive with openings in diverse locations, from Amsterdam to Lima, Douala (Cameroon), Belfast and Tirana (Albania), providing a strong foundation for future growth.

In EMEA, network expansion, new concepts and increased passenger traffic are proving to be key growth drivers. More travellers doesn’t always lead to a boost in spending, however.

“While traffic growth is obviously welcome, we cannot depend on it,” said Chevalier. “As you imply, there is indeed pressure on spend per pax in many markets, which is in part driven by economic uncertainty and the growing cost of travel. Improving penetration and spend should be the priority for every travel retail stakeholder – landlord, retailer and brand – and each has a role to play.

“For our part we are investing significantly in store design and operational improvements to make shopping with us attractive, memorable and convenient. We also need to continuously review our product range to ensure it is relevant and enticing. We all know that younger travellers shop and consume differently, and this poses a challenge to the established core categories in duty free.

“We also believe that the duty free price promise is crucial. Travellers today are demanding, but also rather cynical with regard to the prices they see. We need to restore confidence in travel retail pricing – including food & beverage – if we are to maintain and improve spend levels.”

LTR recently reported that its French business grew by +3%, driven by rising air passenger traffic, concession wins, and sales drives “as well as successful network upgrades for the Travel Essentials and Dining businesses” in Q3 2025.

Over in Africa, the business is expanding rapidly with “many opportunities ahead” from Chevalier’s perspective.

“We were delighted to open our new duty free stores in Cameroon in April, following on from our debut in Benin at the end of 2024.”

As the TRBusiness October issue was released, for which this interview was conducted, the company had also begun its new operations at Kigali International Airport in Rwanda.

The 350sq m Relay store at Antalya International Airport’s new International Terminal 2 Extension (Departures – Landside) marked the brand’s debut in Türkiye.

“As fresh investment in transport infrastructure is made across the continent, we are ready to help airports develop their commercial revenues and transform the traveller experience. In Africa we have seen first-hand how retail and dining can make a huge difference to perceptions of airports and of travel, and there is a lot of growth to come if airports create the right conditions for retail to thrive.

“Among the African markets with the greatest potential is, of course, South Africa. Our new partners at Tourvest know the market intimately; their activities span several different sectors, they have a deep understanding of the tourist industry, and their destination merchandise operations are, in my view, among the best of their kind in the world.

“Both companies feel we have complementary skills and strengths that together can help set new standards in South African travel retail. We will collaborate on any upcoming opportunities in the country and look forward very much to bringing the partnership to life.”

London calling

More headline grabbing news of late has been winning the contract to operate the Blended Travel Essentials concession at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 2 (The Queen’s Terminal), starting early Summer 2026, bringing Relay to the UK airport scene for the first time.

Lagardère Travel Retail has been appointed to operate the Blended Travel Essentials concession in Heathrow Terminal 2, starting early Summer 2026, marking the debut of the Relay concept at a UK airport.

“All our successes in tenders are satisfying, but this one is especially so,” remarked Chevalier.

The offering is being curated by ‘want’ type products as opposed to having the stores organised by the traditional duty free category breakdown, which is a glimpse inside the minds of today’s travelling consumers.

“We believe that the work we have done to refresh the Relay concept in recent years is a good example of a clear response to consumer needs,” he said. “Historically, the Relay offer was largely restricted to press, books and tobacco, all sectors facing their own challenges. By building a new offer around these categories, and introducing items such as snacking, drinks, mobile tech and souvenirs, we have enriched the range while strengthening the base. At Heathrow T2, we will be further widening the concept to include a pharmacy in one of our stores.

“Our work on Relay is evidence of our determination to adapt our concepts to answer the needs of travellers and of our business partners in each location. This echoes the point I have tried to make above, regarding the need to review and refresh our product range in duty free to meet the expectations of an emerging generation of travellers. Our customers don’t stand still, and neither should we.”

The 350sq m Relay store at Antalya International Airport’s new International Terminal 2 Extension (Departures – Landside) marked the brand’s debut in Türkiye.

Focus and balance

With its three business lines – Duty Free & Fashion, Travel Essentials and Dining – being well balanced and a “lot of projects in the pipeline”, ambition is high for the future. “I don’t see any weaknesses, but maybe under-developed strengths… Seriously, our performance so far this year is encouraging but we can always do more, and better,” said Chevalier.

“I would like each of our team members across the world to focus on the little – or indeed big – things that can make us better, and by making those little improvements every day, we will achieve and exceed our goals.

“Our strength, in my view, lies in the diversity of our business, geographically and with regard to our three business lines. Although diverse, we have a strong, coherent group that functions as one whole.

“We need to leverage that strength while retaining our ability to adapt to every location, and to create unique experiences for every traveller. We are not the biggest – yet – but our clear goal is to be the best. That’s the ambition Dag [Rasmussen, Chairman & CEO] and I have set for our team and it is a vision I know that they share.”

The full version of this story first appeared in the October 2025 issue of TRBusiness magazine. 

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