UPDATED: TFWA President Erik Juul-Mortensen told the press that he still felt the same ‘buzz’ during last week’s TFWA World Exhibition & Conference, despite a slight reduction in visitor numbers by -2% (115 visitors).

 

At Thursday afternoon’s closing press conference Juul-Mortensen said that the association had anticipated an impact on the total number of visitors as a result of various issues including the show’s conflicting dates with Jewish and Chinese holidays.

 

The TFWA President said that ‘of course there had been an impact’, but this had not been significant.

 

The association registered a total of 6,443 visitors vs 6,558 in 2015 (-115, -2%) from 2,948 companies (-3%).

 

DF&TR OPERATORS -2%

The number of representatives from duty free and travel retail operators also dropped by -2% (52 people) to 2,097 vs 2,149 in 2015  [as of the end of Wednesday last week], but the number of companies registered was the same (636) as last year.

 

 

The number of visitors who identified themselves as ‘agents’, reached 2,472 vs 2,379 in 2015 (+93 people, +4%), from 1,154 companies (+22 people, +2%).

 

The conversion rate of pre-registered visitors into those who actually attended was 80.5% this year vs 78.1% in 2015.

 

Exhibition space grew by 2.9% to 22,475.55sq m in 2016, accommodating 492 exhibiting brands on 472 stands – +2.1% vs 482 exhibiting brands on 462 stands in 2015 – including 10 official boats in Harbour Village.

 

There were 59 new or returning companies registered this year, which represented 12% of the total number of exhibiting brands.

 

OPENING CONFERENCE NUMBERS

The Opening Conference was one of the best-attended since the event began, with 1,634 (+8.6% vs 2015) being reported.

 

The Market Watch: Russia workshop on Tuesday 4 October registered 153 attendees vs 145 at last year’s Market Watch Korea in 2015 (+5.5%). The Inflight Focus Workshop on Wednesday 5 October registered 174 attendees vs 159 in 2015 (+9.4%).

 

 

The TFWA Research Workshop on Wednesday 5 October registered 89 attendees vs 87 in 2015 (+2.3%).

 

Regarding social events, the TFWA Charity Run, in its third year saw 111 particupate this year resulting in €1,765 in donations to TFWA Care/Samu Social Cannes.

 

Interestingly, the Opening Cocktail, which relocated to the Carlton Hotel beach front was the best ever attended with 1,737.