Top Travel Retailers Report (continued)
King Power International Group (Thailand)
2021 Sales (million)
€512
2021 Rank
13
In The Moodie Davitt Report’s rankings of the world’s leading travel retailers, King Power broke into the top ten for the first time in the 2014 rankings. It cemented that status in later years, ranking in ninth place in our list in 2019 with €2.67 billion in sales, a figure that fell to just over €900 million in 2020.
The company remains the dominant force in Thailand’s duty free sector, 33 years since King Power International Group Chairman & CEO Vichai Raksriaksorn (later Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha) established a joint venture with Tourism Authority of Thailand to open his first Downtown Duty Free shop at Bangkok’s Mahatun Plaza in October 1989. That was the first step in creating a powerhouse player that operates at Thailand’s major airport gateways, and that owns and manages several of Asia Pacific’s great downtown duty free complexes – in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya.
A big investment in stores at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi is a core focus for King Power today
Like other major Asian retailers King Power has benefited from the surge in Chinese visitors to Thailand over the past decade – and been hit harder than most by the closure of borders in the region.
The company has long been interested in expansion overseas, both in travel retail and in the fields of aviation and hospitality: in 2016 King Power’s family owners bought a controlling stake in Thai AirAsia, a unit of budget carrier AirAsia, having earlier acquired Leicester City Football Club in the UK (Khun Vichai was tragically killed in a helicopter accident after a match in October 2018).
For the recovery period, consolidating its position at home, with major investment at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi in particular, is the focus.
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The Moodie Davitt eZine Issue 313 | 28 July 2022
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