A welcome relationship

by Martin Moodie |
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Martin Moodie

Martin Moodie is the Founder & Chairman of The Moodie Report.

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It’s encouraging to see a closer relationship being forged between ACI Europe and the European Travel Retail Council (ETRC) at this year’s ACI Europe Trading Conference & Exhibition in Malta (26-28 April).

Unveiling details of the programme, ACI Europe Director General Olivier Jankovec (pictured) said that in order to address a number of threats, industry stakeholders need to work together effectively on lobbying and communication strategies.

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“To reflect this true spirit of essential collaboration, this event will also be delivered in partnership with ETRC, which represents the interests of the tax free, duty free and travel retail industry in Europe. We have worked together on many key issues in recent years and look forward to taking our working partnership to a new level through this conference.”

They’re welcoming words. The Moodie Report has always felt that it is critical that the travel retail industry has a louder and more coherent voice at ACI level – both regionally and worldwide. Ultimately – as we discovered after creating The Trinity Forum – the airports are the most powerful of all industry stakeholders. They control the passengers, the flows, and the real estate, as well as the commercial terms.

Last year’s unfortunate situation where the ETRC and ACI Europe disagreed publically on the easing of LAGs security regulations offered a salient lesson on the need for unity and coordination between these two vital organizations – one that appears to have been picked up.

ACI enjoys a presence at the most powerful of tables. It is a natural conduit for the ETRC and other travel retail associations to work through. The Malta conference is therefore an important landmark and could and should be the best yet.

The Moodie Report enjoys a very close rapport with ACI World, our joint venture partner in The Trinity Forum. We’re delighted to also make our debut as the official media partner for this year’s ACI Europe event in Malta and we urge industry stakeholders to attend an event that should provide a critical and compelling forum for debate on how Europe’s airport commercial revenues sector handles the many challenges it faces.