In a rare video interview, Dufry CEO, Xavier Rossinyol has told TRBusiness how the company’s stakeholders and partners have received the retailer’s new Destination 2027 strategy unveiled on Capital Markets day last month, whilst communicating that he is ‘bullish’ on the long-term outlook of the company as well as the travel industry at large.

Citing his predecessor Julián Díaz as his ‘most important mentor’, Rossinyol also remarked that the 11 years the two worked together has certainly helped to shape his career.

Moving on to the sharp evolution forced on the travel industry over the last two years, he emphasised that ‘we are not going back to any normal’.

“We are not going back to any normal…we are not going back to 2019. We are headed for something much better. Our aim is to energise firstly the company and then also the industry.”

Whilst elaborating on Dufry’s response to numerous macroeconomic influences, including Covid and the war in Ukraine, Rossinyol says that our basic human instincts include our desire to connect and travel. “Humans need to connect…and in order to connect you need to move, you need to travel.”

In part 1 of this video interview, he also shares his thoughts on how the company’s acquisition of Autogrill will re-mould the travel experience for passengers across Dufry’s extensive global network.

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