Terrible news came through on the wires today from our fine colleagues Lois and Paul Pasternak who do such a mighty job with their respected Americas-focused e-Newsletter and magazine, Travel Markets Insider. Insider revealed that Andres Morochz, who works for Beaute Prestige International (BPI), the hugely creative Shiseido-owned fragrance house, in its Miami office, broke two vertebrae in
Airlines
Counting the cost of oil
This months’ news from Japan regarding fuel surcharges is bad news on every level for travel retail. In a nutshell, the price of outbound travel from Japan – such a linch pin of the global travel retail channel – is going up… and up. Airfares on the key Pacific routes, embracing major travel retail heartlands
Read More
People
The man who allowed Kiwis to dream
Nearly 55 years ago, on 29 May 1953, two men scaled what was then considered by many to be the unassailable challenge of Mount Everest – the world’s highest mountain. One was a Sherpa whose name would enter mountaineering legend, Tenzing Norgay; the other a rugged, unassuming Kiwi called Edmund Hillary. Today, after his death on 11
Read More
Airports
HMSHost gets into stock management with NASCAR
HMSHost is best known internationally for its food & beverage business. But it’s also a pretty adept airport retailer in its stronghold US market. On Friday the Autogrill-owned company celebrated the Grand Opening of its latest innovative store concept – and it’s one that we think will do really well. The retailer has tied up with
Read More
Airports
So where’s the dummy?
Oh the shame. The terrible, terrible shame. After writing the equivalent of War and Peace and two sequels over the past 18 months about the aviation security crisis and the LAGs issue, The Moodie Report Publisher is surely the last person ever to have any liquids confiscated at an airport, right? Er… wrong. British Airways’
Read More
People
Making a difference on the front-line
The scene is London Heathrow Airport Terminal 4 on a cold and drab winter’s day in late December. I’ve just staggered off the 12-and-a-half flight from Shanghai Pudong, where the weather was equally dank and miserable. My mood is similarly grey. I’m tired, fed-up and just want to get a cab home. (Rarely for me) I
Read More
People
George Clooney and My Fair Lady
We had plenty of entries in The Moodie BLOG’s caption contest to best identify what famous American film star George Clooney was saying to Breeda McLoughlin, wife of Dubai Duty Free Managing Director Colm, during the recent Dubai Film Festival. Or, vice versa, what she was saying to him… George has played alongside some of
Read More
People
The water carriers
It’s only 6 January but I figure that this photograph will take some beating as the travel retail image of 2008. The scene is a small village in South Africa’s North West Province. It symbolises the marvellous fruition of an initiative started by World Duty Free to support the ‘One Water’ concept championed by UK entrepreneur and
Read More
Events
Running with a Travel Retail Smile on his face
One of the first of our readers to take up the invitation to create ‘Travel Retail’s 5,000 Smiles’* was Phil Burdekin, our trusty (and, given The Moodie Report’s travel schedule) overworked travel consultant at Flight Centre in London. Phil read about the ‘Turning Tears into Smiles’ dinner in Hong Kong to raise funds for leading
Read More
Airlines
Paying for the environment with plastic
Question: Does travel retail need to become more eco-friendly? Answer: In an age where oil is tipping the US$100 a barrel mark, where rates of fuel burn are a major issue, and where more and more travellers are becoming aware of the impact on their activities on the planet, the answer has to be a
Read More
Events
Letter from the Editor: It’s time to get up and go… again
Somehow we made it to the end of the year. The toughest, yet most exhilirating 12 months in our short five-year history. So many flights, so many places, so many stories. Who the heck came up with the original idea of a weekly e-newsletter and a daily website, I ask myself? Was he mad? I put the