Senior members of the MEADFA Board at the recent press conference held in TFWA Cannes.

Much of the press conference, held at the TFWA World Exhibition & Conference earlier this month, zeroed in on the importance of collective action, which included a focus on defending the industry against claims of its contribution to the illicit trade of tobacco, and the announcement of a new sustainability charter.

For this year’s conference, Sherif Toulan, President, Middle East Africa Duty Free Association (MEADFA) reported its pre-registration numbers had doubled comparative to any other year in the conference’s history, and its membership had increased to 74, while current attendance for this year’s conference was listed as 336, putting the conference on track for its highest attendance yet.

Toulan addressed the difficulties and opportunities facing the DF&TR industry in the MEA region: “It feels like much has changed in our region and in the wider world and not always for the better. We hope and pray that 2025 will being peace and stability to the Middle East and African region.

Despite challenges posed by the geopolitical situation, the dynamics which underpin our market in the Middle East and Africa are still positive.”

Toulan noted the increased appetite for travel across the region’s biggest hubs such as Doha, which set a passenger record in July, and Dubai, which is on track to achieve a record number of passengers for the year.

Toulan also commented on the exceptional levels of investment now being funnelled into the industry by the likes of Saudi Arabia, which he noted: “is creating endless opportunities for all in the region and travel ecosystem.

Previewing the conference itself, Toulan said: “As you can expect, senior executives from companies across the region, and themes such as traffic trends, emerging retail opportunities, emerging technologies, and some of the exciting markets mentioned earlier such as Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia, will be some of the topics discussed. Networking will of course be central to the event.”

The development of this infrastructure in Saudi Arabia is evidence of the pivotal role tourism can play if the government believes in the pay back and importance of tourism.”

Toulan continued: “We are entering a critical time in defence of the duty free and travel retail industry, and I would like to re-state MEADFA’s support for the efforts of the Duty Free World Council (DFWC) in promoting our credentials of as a secure and highly regulated retail channel.”

In defence of duty free

Rob Marriott, Chief Executive Officer at ARIME, spoke on the need for robust advocacy of the DF&TR industry.

“A central part of our advocacy is in defending and promoting industry in face of regulatory and other challenges. Our work in this field is steered by the MEADFA Advocacy Working Group, which includes several professionals from across the region’s retailers, brands.

We’ve been able to make progress in a number of areas, from ensuring government’s recognise the specific characteristics of the travel retail channel, to helping airports develop new commercial opportunities for duty free.”

Marriott addressed the room, specifically referencing the upcoming Illicit Trade Protocol meeting.

Marriott continued: “Effective advocacy relies on intelligence and that’s why the cross-category approach we’ve adopted is so important, but there is much to do and as we approach a critical year for duty free and travel retail, MEADFA enthusiastically supports the  work of DFWC as we approach the next meeting of parties to the World Health Organisation’s Illicit Trade Protocol.

We have work to do to ensure we counter the false claim our industry is a drive of illicit trade, and it is vital all of us – retailers, brands, airports and all stakeholders – mobilise to counter this threat.”

Charting a new course

Munif Mohammed, CEO of Lagardère Travel Retail Saudi Arabia, also provided an important update on the organisation’s efforts to push the needle forward on matters of sustainability.

The [MEADFA] board will create a charter for an ESG action plan, and the emphasis is on action to try and define MEADFA’s position, done a survey of members, understand wehere membes are, next step to get MEADFA as a platform to drive action.

The charter is essentially a document which will be created by MEADFA, it has to be a legal document, as we expect leaders and CEOs to sign. For the first time we are saying that as competitors, we want to work together to create more responsible products. The majority of our carbon footprint comes from products we sell. At Lagardere for example, only 5% of our carbon footprint comes from direct emissions (Scope 1 and 2), while 95% of emissions is products and services we buy and sell.

The industry needs to do work together to create more sustainable products. As an organisation we don’t have the skills or resources to validate what might be a more sustainable product, so we are working on a set of qualifying standards to make sure companies have a global programme, which will recommend science-based targets, which will drive information for change.”

Mohammed continued: The next layer is the most important and revolves around the products themselves. We would expect the manufacturers have third-party certification, step MEADFA could take is to then work with all retailers to find more space, better space and promote those validated products.

We would expect the manufacturers have third-party certification, step MEADFA could take is to then work with all retailers to find more space, better space and promote those validated products.”

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