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‘Crazy. Bold. Ambitious.’ So ran the most appropriate of taglines for the exuberant, spectacular, thrillingly colourful Malaysia Airports Concessionaires Awards held on Friday night at the Sama-Sama Hotel Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
And indeed it was all those things in equal measure, by some distance the most thrilling and sheer fun awards night I can recall attending over my four decades in the business.
I was privileged not only to attend this brilliant evening but also to deliver a presentation at the Malaysia Airports Concessionaires Conference earlier in the day.
I’ve had the welcome opportunity over the past two days to meet many of the airport company’s business partners and members of the fantastic MAHB team led by the ebullient, charismatic and far-sighted Hani Ezra Hussin, Senior General Manager – Commercial Services.
Hani is a human dynamo who has played a critical role in the impressive upgrading of MAHB’s commercial offer – particularly at Kuala Lumpur International Airport – in recent years.
I shared the stage with Hani – who was also a star of The Trinity Forum in Ho Chi Minh City a few days earlier – along with Dato’ Mohd Izani Ghani, the company’s recently appointed MD; General Manager of Commercial Services Zulhikam Ahmad; and Khair Mirza, a super-smart fellow who is Head of airportIR & Industry Research at Modalis Infrastructure Partners.
The conference, titled ‘Navigating the Future: Innovation and Sustainability in Travel Retail’, echoed many of the themes from Trinity, none more so than the ‘decorrelation’ between passenger growth and duty-free spending growth in many markets. That is being driven in Malaysia as it is around the travel retail planet by soft Chinese spending, particularly on luxury and beauty.
Look out for my report on those findings and on the conference and awards on our main website in coming days. But my Blog is all about getting up close and personal with the people, the products and the passion that underpin our amazing global industry. I hope the images on this page (with many more to follow in coming days) capture some of that great collective dynamic. ✈