ammonnews.net

Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - The challenges faced by the Middle East and Africa regions will be the central focus at this year’s Middle East & Africa Duty Free Association conference (23-24 November) at the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre next to the Dead Sea in Jordan.

Organised by TFWA on behalf of MEADFA and sponsored by Dufry, this year’s two-day event has attracted some strong keynote speakers following on from last year’s record circa 600-delegate attendance.

This year’s conference will once again be opened by association President, Sean Staunton against a background where MEADFA’S regions have experienced mixed results in 2014, with respective highs and lows.

This year’s opening keynote address will be given by His Excellency Akel Biltaji, the Mayor of Amman and formerly Jordan’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities. He also enjoyed a distinguished 28-year career with Royal Jordanian Airlines.

The first morning will continue with ‘A year in travel retail: Highlights of 2015 in the Middle East and Africa and be followed by ’Travel and tourism trends in the Middle East (speakers to be confirmed).

Interactive workshops on inflight retail and technology will follow, with the latter session dealing with how hi-tech solutions are ‘revolutionising’ how travel retailers communicate with their customers.

The afternoon session also offers a promising session entitled ‘The waking giant: Saudi Arabia’. Here, World Duty Free Group International Operations Director Pedro Castro will share some data and progress information on how the country’s first ever duty free airport operations are performing after the first few years.

The first day will then end with ‘Trading in a volatile world’, where a number of ‘leading retailers’ will address the issues ‘having the biggest impact on the regional industry today’, including exchange rate fluctuations and the subsequent impact on pricing; political instability; changes to customer demographics; travel patterns; and more (panel to be announced).

The second day (Tuesday 24 November) will then feature what promises to be one of the biggest highlights of the MEADFA event this year, in the guise of television journalist and novelist Tim Sebastian, who will talk about the geopolitical climate in the Middle East. The founding presenter of the BBC ‘HARDtalk’ programme for seven years, Sebastian is one of the most respected post-war UK foreign correspondents still alive today.

Russian and German speaking and a BAFTA journalism winner, Sebastian is also the founder of the BBC’s Doha Debates and the Chairman of The Arab Debates’ award-winning progamme on Deutsche Welle TV.

Straight after Sebastian’s session Mark Essien, the founder of Hotels.ng and SoleRebels creator Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu will feature in presentations on ‘Young Africa: Driving the continent’s future’. These two successful young African entrepreneurs will address the evolving role of tourism and luxury retail in Africa.

‘A new era in Jordan’ will be the next presentation from Airport International Group CEO Kjeld Binger, who will talk about the new Queen Alia International Airport and the growth plans in what is a challenging time for the region.

The MEADFA organisation adds that ‘senior executives from the region’s leading retailers’ will be taking part in the event to discuss the issues currently facing the industry, including fluctuations in exchange rates, changing travel patterns and customer demographics.

The conference itself will be moderated by Dermot Davitt, President of The Moodie Report and TFWA’s Conference, Research and Corporate Affairs Director John Rimmer.

MEADFA also points out that many companies have committed themselves to supporting the event, including the official carrier Royal Jordanian Airlines; World Duty Free Group which is hosting the conference and sponsoring the Gala Dinner; platinum sponsors AerRianta and Bahrain Duty Free; gold sponsors JTI and Ferrero; silver sponsors the Jordan Tourism Board and Aphrodite Duty Free Shop; smoking lounge sponsor and exhibitor Philip Morris; coffee break sponsor International Duty Free Trading & Agencies; and Lagardère Travel Retail, the sponsor of the lanyards.

The King Hussein bin Talal Convention Centre is a 65km drive from Amman’s Queen Alia International Airport and the organisers have negotiated special hotel rates with three hotels, including the Movenpick, Marriott Hotel and the Hilton and TFWA will be forwarding details to prospective attendees in due course.