Latest posts by Martin Moodie (see all)
- How I overcame Severe Tire Damage to become the oldest influencer in town - April 20, 2024
- Free as a (Kiwi) bird and flying high in Haikou - April 13, 2024
- Discovering Food Accademia’s world of fine flavours at a Hong Kong cha chaan teng - April 6, 2024
Really, does it get any better than this? Welcome to The Moodie Report’s interim bureau on the 48th floor of the magnificent Marina Bay Sands. Well I did ask for a room with a view…
I’m here of course for the annual TFWA Asia Pacific exhibition and conference, which formally kicked off last night with the Opening Cocktail at the wonderful Raffles Hotel.
This spectacular integrated resort is reputed to be the world’s most expensive building, with some US$5.7 billion having been lavished on it (including the purchase of the land). It’s built on 15.5 hectares of land and covers some 581,000 square metres, including a hotel, convention and exhibition facilities, theatres, entertainment venues, retailers, and restaurants.
Marina Bay Sands also houses the ArtScience Musuem, which has an adjustable roof waterfall that uses rainwater collected when the roof is sealed in the day.
And of course it houses a certain travel retail trade show, one that has gone from strength to strength in recent years, buoyed in particular by the booming influence of Chinese shoppers on many of the region’s leading travel retailers.
It promises to be a great few days. Besides a few Blogs, I (together with my team) will be keeping you updated on the show via our new Moodie Live format. If you see me, Dermot Davitt, Rebecca Mann or Melody Ng talking rather strangely into our iPhones during meetings, it’s not that we’re being anti-social, we’re simply bringing you our exciting new way to capture the pizzazz and personalities of a trade show in real time. Who would have though a few years ago we would be able to do real-time video interviews, streamed live to our website, from the middle of an exhibition floor? And I suspect that’s just the beginning.
I arrived in Singapore earlier today via Heathrow T3, Helsinki-Vantaa and Hong Kong International airports. There I caught some highlights (and the occasional lowlight), some of which I’ve pictured below.
The show’s Opening Conference is set to begin soon, so it’s time for a rushed breakfast, a story or two on our main website and then another day in travel retail, Singapore style.
[Above and below: World Duty Free Group has taken up its new concession at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. The store may be in transition but they need to sort out their liquor category signage fast]
[Helsinki-Vantaa’s impressive development as a transit hub between Europe and Asia manifests itself in the liquor offer]
