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Theatre of the absurd

You ain’t seen nothin’ yet B-B-B-Baby, you just ain’t seen nothin’ yet Here’s something that you never gonna forget B-B-B-Baby, you just ain’t seen nothin’ yet – You ain’t seen nothin’ yet, Bachman Turner Overdrive ‘Airports braced for check-in chaos as EU plans to lift liquids ban’ ran the headline this week in the online

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Hands across the ocean

Several months after facing one of my most challenging ‘conference’ audiences, I returned last week to hear the audience feedback. The venue was Montpelier Primary School in London, attended by my children Ali (age 10) and Samira (9). As my Blog readers will know from an earlier report, the school decided to organise a charity

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Threatened duty free seizures lead to uproar

First there was road rage, then air rage, now it appears duty free rage has been born. And given the variance in LAGs regulations around the world – and the interpretation of them – should we be surprised? According to today’s Manchester Evening News, a near riot occurred after ‘around 100’ travellers faced the seizure of

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Facing industry threat and the challenge of newness

This week’s ACI Europe Trading Conference in Dublin proved one of the best of recent years, with a strong return to form in attendance terms (over 360) plus a strong and penetrating series of speakers, nearly all of whom spoke tightly to their brief and crucially, to time. Sessions around innovation and newness (on day

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A moment of release

“There’s no disease in your body as far as we can tell.” The date was April 1. But this was no April fool’s message. The caller was my oncologist’s perennially sympathetic assistant Toni. Both her tone and message were full of conviction – and good news. She was calling just two days after the first

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Farewell to Brontë

[Paul and Brontë at last August’s London Triathlon] This message comes from Paul Hogan, owner of PPS Publications, a good man and the father of a beautiful, brave little daughter called Brontë who has battled a long illness and whom I have written about many times on this Blog. It requires no embellishment from me other than an

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Goodbye to Brian Hayward, a great friend of duty free

Sad news about the loss of a great industry servant reached us last month from Australia, via David Segreto who runs DFS Group’s Auckland Airport operation. “Brian Hayward [who died after a long illness with cancer] was a great family friend but also a great friend of the duty free industry in Australasia,” writes David.

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Celebrating the best of German food & beverage

The Moodie Report paid a visit to Frankfurt Airport this week, to see the airport’s acclaimed food & beverage operations and visit its award-winning concessionaires – and we weren’t disappointed. It was a visit that underlined the depth, variety and terrific heritage that German food & beverage can boast – but that is too often

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Hats off to the Black Caps – and Dubai Duty Free

On the day that New Zealand’s heavily unfancied cricket team dubbed the ‘Black Caps’ turned over hot favourites South African in the World Cup quarter final, what better way for a Kiwi publisher to celebrate than to invest in some swanky new headgear? To be truthful I didn’t even know the match result at the

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Brogan is back

The Moodie Report is delighted to reveal that rumours of Pat Brogan’s death have been greatly exaggerated. The genial Irishman and wife Kay were back in Orlando this week, armed with a new product that is already making inroads in the Americas. Pat and Kay have been best known in recent years for Brogan’s Irish

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Tairo treats the trade to a truly Wicked evening

Last night distributor Tairo International treated over 100 of its customers and brand partners to a truly Wicked evening of entertainment, at the IAADFS Duty Free Show of the Americas. Tairo’s Tania and Robert Bassan hosted a Wicked evening in Orlando At 6pm buses transported the lucky group to the Carr Performing Arts Centre in

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Scents and the city

How do you capture and embody the essence of a city in a bottle? That’s the challenge posed – and the proposition offered – by a new fragrance house called The Scent of Departure (www.thescentofdeparture.com). The house is headed by Gerald Ghislain, a French fragrance creator (pictured below with designer Magali Sénéquier) who refers to himself

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Women in Travel (WiT) support Hand in Hand for Haiti

Members of the Women in Travel (WiT) networking group met bright and early this morning at the IAADFS Duty Free Show of the Americas, in Orlando. The well-attended 7.15 am breakfast meet and greet was hosted by Travel Markets Insider Editor Lois Pasternak and Christine Deussen, President of Deussen Global Communications. “Consider this a network,”

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