It was great to catch up with Colm and Breeda McLoughlin and several of the Dubai Duty Free management and staff at yesterday’s annual Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup race meeting at Ascot racecourse just outside London. The event is the only team competition in horse racing, featuring four teams of three jockeys representing Ireland,
Airports
Good taste in every sense
One of my favourite stories of 2010 to date is Airport Authority Hong Kong’s superb ‘Tasting Hong Kong’ community art campaign at Hong Kong International Airport – in my view a classic example of how airports can (and should) contribute to their local communities and cultures. Tasting Hong Kong showcases visual artworks from ten local
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Events
‘The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children’ – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Out of the mouths of babes hast thou ordained strength – Psalm 8:2 You know the symptoms. Your heart is racing. Your blood pressure is rising and your pupils dilating. Dry mouth, shaking hands and there’s a maddening, giveaway tremor in your voice. Just about anyone who has had to address a public audience will
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Airports
Travel retail gets a kick out of football’s World Cup
Since the departure of the brave All Whites from New Zealand (my apologies to all Italian readers for our role in the demise of the Azzurri), my allegiances have switched constantly in this most compelling of Football World Cups. The event, so wonderfully organised by South Africa, has gripped the attention of millions worldwide, and
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Events
Waxing lyrical over Neil Towns
From Neil Towns, Head of Buying at P&O Ferries, comes news that he has smashed his recent charity fund-raising target – and had a unique, albeit painful, beauty treatment in the process. On 18 July Neil is taking part in a 105 mile stage of the Tour De France in the Pyrenees. The ride this
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Events
A fitting tribute to Freddie
2010 marks the 10th anniversary of the tragic death in an accident of young Freddie McGuire, the infant son of Scorpio Distributors Managing Director Stuart McGuire and his wife Joelle. To mark that anniversary, Stuart (above) is embarking on an extraordinarily daunting fund-raising effort on behalf of the Freddie McGuire Charitable Trust and I’m going
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Events
Sandro steps in as Lars is remembered
For many years at the Singapore show, a unique lunch would take place at the Conrad Hotel’s Golden Peony restaurant. The lunch would celebrate not only business between partners but also the spirit that underpinned it. The host extraordinaire was Lars Johansson, the founder of Imagination Unlimited International, and a man synonymous with the extraordinary
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Events
Singapore shows kicks off as the Chinese phenomenon grows
The Moodie Report team is in Singapore for the annual TFWA Asia Pacific exhibition and Gate One2One conference. For me it’s step one in a long Asia Pacific sojourn that will also take in the exciting new-look International Terminal at Sydney Airport and the new duty free stores at Auckland Airport from James Richardson and
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Events
‘Till the blue skies drive the dark clouds away’
“Veal meat again…” It sounded like I was about to burst into a Vera Lynn wartime song but I was simply ordering the best chop in New York. The Moodie Report’s Americas bureau has doubled in size with the arrival of Deputy Publisher Dermot Davitt after a 15-hour flight from Hong Kong, step one on
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Airlines
New York blues
And the papers love to say It’s the meanest town in the USA But I think it’s okay It’s the town I’ve made my home – New York City Blues, Neil Sedaka Things you don’t want to read when you’re stranded abroad (1): “The last recorded eruption of Eyjafjallajokull lasted over a year (1821-1823) but
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Airports
Setting new Standards
This Blog comes to you from the Courtyard Marriott hotel near New York JFK Airport. It’s the recurrent story of my life; to visit great cities and only stay in airport hotels. I’m in the ‘Big Apple’ on a whistle-stop, one-day visit to view what I hear is an exciting alliance between Diageo Global Travel &
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Airports
Getting the star treatment in-store
This just may rank as the look of the year. No I’m not talking about the male shop assistant; I’m talking about the expression emanating from the Rita Hayworth lookalike at Athens International Airport earlier this month. ‘Smouldering’ they used to call such looks in the golden age of Hollywood. And indeed the movie industry
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Events
Making a difference on the front line
Sometimes stories can slip quietly under the radar when they actually deserve real prominence. One such example was an initiative this week by French travel retailer Aelia, which organised a day themed ‘Journée Des Sens’ in France. The concept brings together many of travel retail’s most successful fragrance and cosmetics brands with Aelia’s front-line sales