The Trinity Forum: Paul Griffiths
“Let’s connect emotionally with our customers”
In one of the highlight session of day one at The Trinity Forum, Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths called on the industry community to focus relentlessly on making an “emotional connection” with travellers – one that will drive engagement, satisfaction and non-aeronautical spend.
“Brands are trying to create that emotional connection with the customer and that is the secret to increasing spend. We need to create a great experience for our customers because that’s what brands want and what airports and retailers are trying to facilitate.”
Griffiths and his team carry responsibility for the operation and development of Dubai International (DXB) – the world’s busiest airport for international passengers, as well as Dubai World Central (DWC).
Thanks to a proactive approach by the Dubai government, he said, travellers were reassured that Dubai was a safe place during the pandemic, and that has enabled surging growth since.
DXB accommodated double-digit growth in passenger numbers throughout 2022, propelling annual traffic for the year to 66 million and cementing DXB’s status as the world’s busiest international airport for the ninth consecutive year.
With 41.6 million passengers served in the first six months of 2023, Dubai Airports is forecasting over 87 million for the full year 2023. Beyond the sharp recovery, a key element is the changing traveller type, he noted.
“In four years, our passenger demographic has transformed to 60% point-to-point and 40% transit passengers and that’s pushed up our total number of transactions,” said Griffiths. “The business is changing and categories are changing and so customer insights have never been more important than they are now. Passenger are younger than pre-pandemic and reasons for travel are more skewed towards leisure than before. We need to adapt to that.”
Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths: Promoting a relentless consumer focus at DXB
Griffiths shared his insights on how the industry Trinity can better work together to adapt to changing consumer demands.
He said pointedly: “Historically, airport and prisons have had something in common and that is the less amount of time we detain our customers, the happier they are.
“Now, there is a transformation. In the 20 years of Trinity Forum, what we have are brands making products, airports facilitating space and travel retailers providing the process of selling those products. That relationship hasn’t changed.
“Now it’s time to ensure that all stakeholders are focused on one thing – how we unlock the customer spend that we desperately need. How do we do this together? Maybe it’s time to call this event The Unity Forum. We are all trying to create the emotional connection and that is the secret of doing this together.”
He added: “Airport infrastructure is changing, competition is changing and we cannot afford to be left behind.
“F&B, retail and the whole airport experience is linked by emotion – good or bad – and we all have to unlock that together. The tax free status of airport retail is largely disappearing in a lot of jurisdictions and must be replaced by something. We are not just competing with domestic markets but also the very powerful online channel.”
Time for The Unity Forum? Paul Griffiths is among the most progressive and provocative voices in the airport world
He added: “We need to rethink the entire end-to-end operation. The legacy processes in airports need to disappear so customers have the time to shop and experience all that we have to offer. Technology will transform all that we do. The world is changing and we are working with technology and other service partners to improve what we do and to allow us to serve customer needs better.”
On the business managed by Dubai Duty Free, and asked to comment about a potential government review of the current commercial model at DXB, Griffiths said: “Airport infrastructure is quite staggering. We have to set that in context with sustainability challenges of expanding airports around the world. We know that DXB has limited capacity at 118-120 million annual passengers, so we need a new airport and that will cost a huge amount of money to build and develop. To finance that, we are going to be reliant on non-aeronautical revenues and therefore need a very efficient non-aeronautical sales model.
“Dubai Duty Free has been one of the most successful duty free operators, and a pioneer that celebrates 40 years this year. But as with everything, what was successful in the past may not be the best model today or in the future and given that the non-aeronautical business will be one we rely on heavily, we need to explore some options.”
Offering a final message about how the industry should be improving the traveller experience, Griffiths added: “We have to respect customers’ time and that makes them happy. If we do that, they will have more time to spend.
“Let’s create that single emotion we need to awaken the customer. Let’s call this The Unity Forum. Brands are spending billions to create an emotional bond with their product and airports and retailers need to be in exactly that business.
“We need to enhance the process and create the opportunity and build new partnerships, including with airlines, to make sure we are all emotionally connecting with our customers. Emotion makes the world go round. It needs to make the industry spin round even quicker.”
Emotional connection: Paul Griffiths with Martin Moodie in Hong Kong
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The Moodie Davitt eZine
Issue 329 | 22 November 2023
The Moodie Davitt eZine is published 14 times per year by The Moodie Davitt Report (Moodie International Ltd). © All material is copyright and cannot be reproduced without the permission of the Publisher. To find out more visit www.moodiedavittreport.com and to subscribe, please e-mail kristyn@moodiedavittreport.com