Preview: The Trinity Forum 2019


A star-studded speaker line-up

This year’s Trinity Forum, organised by The Moodie Davitt Report, ACI World and ACI Asia-Pacific, takes place in Doha on 30 and 31 October. It is being co-hosted by Qatar Duty Free, Hamad International Airport and Qatar Airways.

Speakers from across the aviation and retail industries will explore how airports, concessionaires and brands – the Trinity – can work together for the benefit of the travelling consumer.

The event theme is ‘Reimagining the Trinity’s role in a phygital world’. The programme will examine how future-proofed the travel retail sector and its business model are in light of the relentless advance of online competition, enhanced consumer transparency, and lack of data sharing. It will also ask whether the traditional industry Trinity of airports, retailers and brands needs to make room for another stakeholder – airlines.

From a unique airline, airport and retail perspective, delegates will hear from His Excellency Akbar Al Baker, who is CEO of Qatar Airways Group, Secretary General of the Qatar National Tourism Council and CEO of several divisions of Qatar’s national airline, including Hamad International Airport and Qatar Duty Free. He will be joined by Engr. Badr Mohammed Al Meer, Chief Operating Officer at Hamad International.

Ongoing expansion: China Duty Free Group President Charles Chen

Digital insight: Alibaba Global Business Group President Angel Zhao

Elsewhere in the packed conference programme, China Duty Free Group (CDFG) President Charles Chen – recently promoted to also become President of China International Travel Services – will be interviewed in a one-to-one session with The Moodie Davitt Report Founder & Chairman Martin Moodie. Chen is the driving force behind CDFG’s remarkable growth over recent years.

Chen will also be joined (in a separate session) by two of the most senior executives from Chinese ecommerce and retail giant Alibaba, Angel Zhao and Roman Zhu.

Zhao is President of Alibaba’s Global Business Group while Zhu is General Manager of Fliggy Buy – Alibaba’s new platform that allows Chinese travellers to make purchases online at duty free and tax free shops before they leave home.

KrisShop CEO Chris Pok will discuss his company’s new look omnichannel platform, which joint venture partners Singapore Airlines, 3Sixty and ground services provider SATS said would “help redefine travel retail in years to come”.

Spectacular setting: The Trinity Forum conference will take place at the St. Regis Hotel in Doha, Qatar

This year’s Trinity Forum will also feature an Airports CEO panel featuring Emmanuel Menanteau, Kjeld Binger and Christina Cassotis from Kansai International Airport, Queen Alia International Airport and Pittsburgh International Airport respectively.

A host of other speakers will help make The Trinity Forum 2019 arguably the most provocative and challenging in the event’s history. They include Retail Sector Leader Kevin Roche; OurShop (AirAsia) CEO Lalitha Sivanaser; SSP America Executive Vice President Pat Murray; Groupe ADP Chief Retail Officer Aude Ferrand; and Heathrow Airport Retail Director Fraser Brown.

They are joined by Container Hotel Group CEO & Co-founder Ryan Loo; Nestlé International Travel Retail General Manager Stewart Dryburgh; L’Oréal Travel Retail Global Retail & Digital Director Sophie Neyertz-Ehrsam; and Philip Morris International (PMI) Travel Retail Head Edvinas Katilius.

Other pre-eminent industry executives incliude Pernod Ricard Global Travel Retail Chairman and CEO Mohit Lal; Mars Wrigley International Travel Retail Global Category Director Raghav Rekhi; AOE CEO Kian Gould; Zürich Airport Head of Commercial Centres Heidi Köpple; oOh! Media Chief Commercial and Product Officer Robbie Derry; and Wildstone Consulting Managing Director Paula Oliver.

The full line-up can be viewed in the programme of events, which is reproduced in this issue of The Moodie Davitt eZine.

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The Moodie Davitt eZine

Issue 270 | 25 October 2019

The Moodie Davitt eZine is published 20 times per year by The Moodie Davitt Report (Moodie International Ltd).


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