New licences and commercial developments on Hainan island were the subject of a dedicated workshop held on Wednesday 23 June.

A total of 1,683 individual delegates registered on Tax Free World Association’s (TFWA) digital engine ‘TFWA 365’ for the four-day Asia Pacific Hainan Special Edition held this week (21-24 June).

TFWA 365 allowed industry executives to view online conference and workshops and partake in various e-networking sessions [for coverage from the event, see links at footer].

They also had the opportunity to connect with brands, establish new contacts and explore industry research and projects through the ‘Discover’, ‘Learning’ and ‘Networking’ portals.

The TFWA One2One e-meeting service arranged 132 online meetings between 60 brands and sponsor companies and 32 buyer companies.

As reported, TFWA President Jaya Singh set the scene in the opening plenary on Tuesday 22 June with a frank assessment of the challenges facing international travel (or lack thereof) and the opportunities that exist, notably on Hainan island where DF&TR turnover rocketed by 356% in the first quarter of this year.

The event received backing from Mondelēz International as Diamond Partner.

Platinum sponsors included Lagardère Travel Retail, Zhuhai Duty Free Group, Shenzhen Duty Free Group, CNSC, Alibaba Group affiliate Cainiao Smart Logistics Network, Duty Free Global and William Grant & Sons.

“TFWA would like to thank all its sponsors and partners for supporting TFWA Asia Pacific Hainan Special Edition – organised in partnership with Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association (APTRA) and main partner China Duty Free Group – as well as the brands and members that exhibited digitally on the TFWA 365 platform,” said TFWA.

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