Visitor registrations to the inaugural Duty Free and Travel Retail Summit of the Americas – which took place at the Orlando Marriott World Center hotel – reached *1,860, around 440 of which were buyer attendees.

IAADFS President and CEO Michael Payne confirmed the buyer numbers [correct as of close of play Wednesday 21 March] directly to TRBusiness.

In terms of exhibition space, Payne confirmed this had risen by around 1,000sq ft, including eight extra exhibitors.

Some might view the preliminary figures, which equate to roughly 160 to 200 fewer visitors and 162 buyers compared to last year’s IAADFS Duty Free Show of the Americas (2,076 visitors and 602 buyers, respectively), as surprising given the event’s amalgamation of ASUTIL and IAADFS’ standalone conference and exhibitions.

“It shouldn’t change much when we reconcile the categories,” Payne said. “The lack of on-site registration from Caribbean locations, the wine show, Basel [watch fair] and consolidations all contributed this year – we’ll do a lot more analysis.”

 

EXCELLENT CONFERENCE

 

Payne felt the co-ordination of the event with ASUTIL was successful but admitted – as he has done previously in conversation with TRBusiness – that hosting the new summit programme at the new location would have been the preferred option.

 

Given the contractual arrangements with the Marriott, this was not possible this year.

 

As is now known, the Summit of the Americas will return to the Hyatt Regency hotel in Orlando through 2019/2020.

 

One overidding positive from the summit was the quality of the new Executive Conference programme, which drew high-profile speakers such as Dufry Group CEO Julián Díaz, Carnival Cruise Lines CCO Gustavo Antorcha, AOE CEO Kian Gould and Portland Design Director of Environments Lewis Allen.

 

This positive is something TRBusiness concurs with strongly, having received a variety of feedback on this and other elements of the show during the busy working week.

Payne says the future length of the conference sessions is still under debate and will be put under firmer discussion once IAADFS and ASUTIL receive feedback from a post-show survey.

 

TRAFFIC & NETWORKING ISSUES

During a frank closing press conference, both associations addressed questions from the media regarding this year’s event.

One point regarded the practicality of demarcated networking areas for buyers outside the exhibit hall, which in some instances had not worked to the reported detriment of exhibitors who sought separate meetings.

“The feedback, depending on who you talk too, generally is most people were booked and saw who they needed to see,” Payne responded, although acknowledging that this particular point had been relayed during the show.

“I don’t think this took time away from the floor; it is a very restrictive universe of people that were eligible for this networking time,” Payne contended.

“It forced people to register, participate and pay. It was an effort to get people engaged.

“We will look at and see if that turns out as a negative. If we do it next year, depending on how the trade show lays out, we might put a little bit of that in [the exhibition hall]. This is a learning exercise and process and this is one that we may need to look at.”

Exhibition hall traffic emerged as a key point of discussion, which was unsurprising given the above metrics.

“There was clearly some [exhibitors] who didn’t have the sort of walk-by traffic they wanted – that is every year and not an unusual comment.

“I think the challenge for us this year was threefold: clearly we didn’t get as many on-site registrations from the Caribbean as we usually do; we are certainly feeling the [affects of the] wine show; and Basle [Baselworld watch fair, 22-27 March] is near us. Consolidations in the industry on both the supplier and concessionaire side impacted us as well.”

Adding his comments, José Luis Donagaray, Secretary-General, ASUTIL commented: “We know we need to fix a lot of things to be more efficient and precise, but for us it was a very good experience. We are satisfied with the result and are on the right track.

“I spoke with some of the brands, they are really satisfied with the amount of business; the whole of Americas – particularly Latin Americas – is doing well. This is a DF&TR show, it is not about how many people, it is about the quality. At the end of the show, brands will look at number of sales, contacts and total costs. We continue receiving feedback from people.

“We hope that next year that won’t be the same case – we aren’t conflicting with other shows as we were this year.

Payne added: “One of the advantages of going to the Hyatt are meeting room spaces much more closely connected to the exhibit area. One of the reasons we are moving is to get a more connected, intimate, environment which you can’t do at the Marriott the way it is laid out.

“Part of the advantage is you contain the show in a smaller area – you can’t control access in a public building.”

Another area that IAADFS and ASUTIl will consider next year will be to orchestrate new social/networking opportunities in connection with a charity.

Overall, IAADFS and ASUTIL are optimistic of building on the positives [and addressing the issues] when the event returns to Orlando next year and TRBusiness can vouch for the hard work carried out by both associations to make the event a success.

NEW BOARD

Following the conclusion of the event last week, IAADFS placed their trust in incumbent Chairman Erasmo Orillac for a further one-year term.

The Motta Internacional CEO joins Neutral’s Enrique Urioste, who has been appointed Treasurer, while Rene Riedi (Dufry) takes up the role of Chair-Elect.

In addition, Mark Sullivan (DFS North America) has been named as Chair of the Audit Committee and joins the rest of the IAADFS Board of Directors.

This includes David Bernstein, Carisam/Samuel Meisel; Gerry Crawford, Aer Rianta International; Padraig Drennan, Stellar Partners; Jose Gonzalez, Dufry America; Michael Halpern, International Shoppes; Joe Lyons, DFS North America; and Louis Snelders, Duty Free Shop.

*Numbers unaudited at time of press