Never work with children or animals

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Martin Moodie
Martin Moodie is the Founder & Chairman of The Moodie Report.

Are you smarter than a child? A 10 or 11 year old child? A really, really smart child? Not just in general but on specific travel-related questions? And can you prove it?

That was the daunting challenge facing Abu Dhabi Airports Company Senior Vice President Commercial Dan Cappell earlier this month at The Moodie Report 10th Anniversary Charity Ball.

With typical Moodie consideration, Dan was given about a day’s notice of the task, no briefing, and simply told that he would be on stage with three local ‘wunderkinds’, having to answer questions on our industry in front of 370 guests. No pressure then…

Perhaps unaware (or choosing to ignore) the old W.C. Fields adage “Never work with children or animals”, Dan bravely took up the challenge.

Guests at the 37 tables were able to join in the fun as they purchased cards featuring the questions that Dan was facing. They had to correctly identify whether he (with a little help from his friends) had answered right or wrong.

Did the (considerably older) boy do well? Well let’s just say that his insistence that Winnipeg is one of the world’s busiest airports has made him a  hero in the province of Manitoba, Canada where he has been granted the keys of the city. And let’s confirm that his sense of comic timing and pantomime-style over the top acting could well lead to a flood of television offers in coming months. I said ‘could’…

But back to the business at hand. How did he fare? And how would you have done?

Here are the questions.

1. In what country would you find the airports of Narita and Haneda?

2. What are the top three airports for international passenger traffic?

3. In 2012 what is the number one fastest-growing city in visitor arrivals?

4. What was the top-selling category in airport duty free shops in 2011?

5. Where is claimed to have the cleanest air in the world?

6. Approximately how many airports does China intend to open over the next ten years?

Without recourse to Google (The Moodie Report has absolute faith in the integrity of its readership) send your answers to me at Martin@TheMoodieReport.com headed ‘Never work with children or animals’ by Friday and a bottle of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc from the world’s finest wine-making nation will be awarded to both the most accurate answer (a draw will be held in the event of a tie) and the most creative.  Only travel retail industry executives and citizens of Winnipeg can enter.

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