ETRC Index aims for May launch

Gavin Lipsith

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The Council is hoping that 80% of European travel retailers will participate in the regional index

The European Travel Retail Council is hoping to publish its first European travel-retail index, showing trend data for the first quarter of 2005 against the same period last year, in May. The Council is hoping to gather data from at least 80% of the region's operators, and is discussing the project with Association Francaise du Commerce du Voyageur and AETRA, the airport benchmarking programme established by ACI and the International Air Transport Association.

The index was one of the subjects discussed in a management meeting in Paris earlier this week, ETRC secretary general Keith Spinks told RavenFox.com. He revealed that the Council was hopeful of a May launch, and that the first index would include data on 2003/4 to provide background to the first quarter results. The data will track the performance of product categories starting from a base of 100 in January 2004.

Spinks added that several issues remain to be decided, for example whether to collect the data through ETRC or to outsource the project to an external agency.