What a great occasion it was. One that perhaps marked Lotte Duty Free’s true coming of age as a world-class airport retailer outside its native land.
Events
From infant typo to twilight senior
“Could we take a photo Monsieur Arnault?” “Sure.” We couldn’t believe our luck. The battle for control of LVMH was raging but there could only be one winner. And we had the shot.
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Events
Singing nightingales, big steel birds and flying Kiwis as Dubai Duty Free turns 40
The sublimely talented Dubai Duty Free Nightingales asked me to join them for a photo. Fortunately, very fortunately, for all airport passsengers they did not ask me to join in the performance.
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Events
Kohli or Kane for the Cricket World Cup semi-final? Your chance to win a taste-tempting trio of Sōmrus cream liqueurs
Wayne Barnes reaches into his pocket and pulls out a red card, which he flashes in front of Kane Williamson. “You led that protest with your head. No attempt to lower your voice. There’s a high degree of danger and there’s no mitigation. Off you go Sam!”
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Events
Trinity triumph and World Cup woes
After such events I feel as if I’ve been put through a mental wringer, the psychological equivalent of being run over by the Springboks forward pack, the unrelenting concentration required meaning that relief rather than exhilaration is the dominant emotion afterwards.
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Events
Time to enjoy some undiluted Writers’ Tears
It looked as though I might have to honour my pledge to retire, become ‘free of duty at last’ and to rename our title after my Irish business partner Dermot Davitt.
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Events
From an Interim Bureau on the French Riviera to a worldwide HQ in Ystradgynlais
My Interim Bureau over the next few days is a very different place from the dazzle of Cannes but on a personal level offers incalculable riches that a swanky city on the French Riviera can never match.
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Airports
A celebration of speed and sumptuous Qatari hospitality
We are on location for a sporting weekend like few others in the company of Qatar Airways and Qatar Duty Free.
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Events
An All Blacks roasting and a BW Confidential toasting
Our schedules are jam-packed throughout the week and thanks to that and the fact that news from the rest of the world will continue to pour in over coming days, we really will live up to our moniker of ‘the website that never sleeps’.
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Events
Sunrise in Shanghai, tenderness in Tokyo; and the cream of the crop with Sōmrus
I’m up, up and away again on one of those aircraft, on a 16-hour, 8,045 mile flight to New York, the first leg of a two-week journey that will in six days hence see me in Cannes for the TFWA World Exhibition.
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Events
Sunrise turns 24 years young; we reach a sprightly 21; and FAB rocks in Bangkok
I have known Sunrise Duty Free Founder and General Manager Fengyi Zhang for most of those 24 years and am always struck by her kindness and grace when we meet in China or at TFWA’s Cannes and Singapore shows.
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Events
Feeling bleu in Paris but absolutely FAB-ulous in Bangkok
“Allez les Bleus!” I guess the nice immigration officer woman at Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport couldn’t help herself when she saw the kiwi on my cap.
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Events
Turning black and blue in the City of Light
Black meets blue, the very same colours that the players’ bodies will bear after what will no doubt be a fearsomely physical encounter.