Heathrow, Seoul, Dubai top Generation duty free rankings; Silja highest ferry company – 16/06/04
Published: 16/06/04
Source: ©The Moodie Report
By Martin Moodie
SWEDEN. Generation has released its eagerly-awaited annual survey of the world’s leading duty free retail locations.
The Swedish company, now celebrating its 25th year, each year produces a comprehensive ranking of the world’s top duty free operations, together with a breakdown of the global market by channel, category and region. The full results will be published in Generation’s Best N Most annual in coming weeks with further analysis in The Moodie Report, with which Generation enjoys a close alliance.
The top 12 duty free sales locations in 2003 (preliminary) were as follows:
Rank - Sales in US$ million* - Location
1. 742.0 London Heathrow Airport, UK
2. 425.0 Seoul Incheon Int'l Airport, South Korea
3. 380.0 Dubai International Airport, UAE
4. 374.6 Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, The Netherlands
5. 356.6 Singapore Changi Airport, Singapore
6. Confid Silja Line, Finland
7. 338.0 Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, France
8. 307.9 London Gatwick Airport, UK
9. 294.4 Frankfurt-Main Airport, Germany
10. 265.0 Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport, Israel
11. 232.9 P&O Ferries, UK
12. 230.5 Viking Line, Finland
* Preliminary
Source: Generation
All sales are measured in US Dollars, which Generation points out inflates European figures by around +18% for 2003.
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Yngve Bia, the mastermind behind Generation.
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Dubai is the key upwards mover, going from number five in the world to third spot, a further remarkable achievement by Dubai Duty Free which broke all sales records in its 20th anniversary year in 2003 despite the effect of the Iraq war. It is worth noting that at just 18.1 million passengers in 2003, Dubai Airport’s traffic numbers are dwarfed by most of its top duty free rivals.
Reacting to the annoucement, H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of the Department of Civil Aviation, Dubai said: “This is a tremendous achievement for Dubai Duty Free which has jumped from fifth to third place in one year. Dubai Duty Free sales now rank with operations in higher-traffic airports such as Heathrow which handles in excess of 60 million passengers per year.”
Seoul’s high position (its 2002 figure was restated) reflects the impact of the new Seoul Incheon Airport, the excellence of its retailers, including Lotte and DFS Korea, and the value of the Korean/Japanese traffic mix that dominates the airport.
Singapore Changi Airport slipped from second position in 2002 to number five spot due to the severe impact of the SARS crisis on travel to and within Asia in 2003. Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, third in 2002, held up well though Paris Charles de Gaulle (4 in 2002) felt the decline in Asian traffic and the impact of the Euro-Dollar relationship.
London Heathrow Airport once again proved to be the world’s top duty free location. Parent company BAA’s constant innovation and renovation instore continues to pay off at retail subsidiary World Duty Free and further growth can be anticipated with new look stores coming on line in Heathrow terminal four and elsewhere, with the prospect of T5 to come.
London Gatwick continues to perform impressively despite the often difficult conditions in the holiday market last year. Other BAA airports showed strong sales growth as did non-BAA UK airports including Birmingham and Newcastle.
Finland's Silja Line once again ranked as the world's number one ferry company for duty free sales.
For comprehensive analysis of the global duty free market in 2003, the full results will be available from Generation in coming weeks. For details contact Yngve Bia by email at
Yngve.Bia@Generation.se or go to
www.Generation.se.
Preview commentary will appear on The Moodie Report.com soon. Look out next week for our exclusive preview of Generation's breakdown of the global duty free market by region, category and channel.
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