This month’s International Association of Airport Duty Free Stores (IAADFS) Summit of the Americas (8-11 March) at the new InterContinental Miami venue comes at a time when the world's eyes are on the Americas for all the wrong reasons. Like a wrecking ball, the incoming Trump presidency in the US, with its threats of tariffs on its neighbours, Canada and Mexico, and retaking of the Panama Canal, has sent shock waves across the region.
Much of Trump’s ire towards his neighbours springs from his belief that neither Canada nor Mexico are doing enough to combat the cross-border flows of illegal migrants and the smuggled deadly drug fentanyl into the States. The family-owned Canadian duty free border store operators, still recovering from the Covid pandemic, are already feeling the impact of the threat of tariffs, even though they have been temporarily suspended for 30 days.
Angered by what has happened, thousands of Canadians have considered cancelling their plans to visit the US, according to news reports. The US Travel Association has warned that just a 10% drop in Canadian visitors to the US could result in 2 million fewer visits per year, $2.1bn in lost spending and 14,000 American jobs axed.
“I absolutely expect the political situation will have a depressive effect on travel sentiment,” concedes Simon Resch, the owner of Manitoba-based border retailer Emerson Duty Free. “We are witnessing it playing out in real time across Canada, with premiers and the prime minister asking people to ‘staycation’ or book travel plans in destinations other than the US.”
Duty free retailers on the long US/Mexican border retailers will also be affected even if Trump’s threat of tariffs proves, as many political commentators believe, to be only an opening negotiating gambit. The economies of the US and Mexico are highly interconnected in sectors such as the automotive industry, with supply chains which require a lot of cross-border travel. Uncertainty has already led to reduced investment in this busy industrial region.
Trump’s policies are also likely to impact US airports. Stricter visa policies could impact inbound international traffic, as happened in the president’s first term in office, and tourists could be put off visiting the Trump-led US. Outbound flows could also be affected by the new government’s federal hiring freeze, which could lead to staff shortages and delays in processing visas and passport applications.
It all makes for a potentially gloomy backdrop to this year’s Summit of the Americas, but exhibition space for the annual event has sold out, and the drinks line-up includes well-known names such as Heaven Hill Brands, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Diageo Global Travel and Pernod Ricard Travel Retail Americas, as well as specialist regional drinks distributors such as Haleybrooke International, Monarq Group and Blue Caterpillar.
The show’s opening morning conference on Sunday, 9 March, will include a keynote address by John Price, managing director of Americas Market Intelligence and a leading veteran economic consultant on Latin America. Price will review recent travel trends across the region and chart the evolution of Latin America’s affluent travellers.
His presentation will include a review of the economic outlook for the region for the next few years and will look at longer-term trends that will have an impact on Latin American travel.
Sunday afternoon will feature additional workshops, one of which will focus on the regional potential of the airport channel and feature senior-level speakers from the trade body Airports Council International. The other workshop will concentrate on the key topic of how to unlock footfall and drive conversion, evergreen challenges for the travel-retail sector. Peter Mohn, chief executive of travel retail research agency M1nd-set, will present recent research into shopper motivations and outline why experiential activations can help those key metrics move in the right direction.
Regional trends
In terms of regional spirit trends, agave spirits have been the hottest ticket in recent years and at the IAADFS show, Pernod Ricard Travel Retail Americas will be showcasing its ultra-premium brand Código 1530 after a successful launch at US airports last year. Meanwhile, Proximo Spirits, another exhibitor, recently partnered with Swiss travel retailer Avolta to open a standalone store, Agave World, at Mexico’s Cancun International Airport in January this year.
Buyers needing to bolster their cognac offers should visit Haleybrooke International’s stand, where the spotlight will be on Cognac Mauxion Sélection. Known for its traditional VS, VSOP, XO and Extra expressions, the family-owned house also produces intricate, mouth-blown speciality bottles crafted in the Provençal town of Biot.
Meanwhile, The Family Brands Alliance, a partnership of family-owned companies including Danzka vodka owner Waldemar Behn, Italy’s Pallini Limoncello, cognac producer Bache-Gabrielsen and luxury French gin brand G’Vine, will welcome a new member at the show – Irish American Whiskey. Produced by Achill Island Distillery, the only island-based distillery in Ireland, its range includes a five-year-old Irish whiskey, an eight-year-old single malt, and an ultra-premium 21-year-old single malt.
While political uncertainty looms over the region, the Summit of the Americas, now in its 56th year, remains a beacon of continuity and resilience for the duty free sector. Over the years ahead, the industry’s ability to adapt and innovate will ultimately determine whether it merely weathers the storm – or emerges stronger than before.
