Hellenic predicts strong sales on back of traffic growth

Emily Pacey

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Strong passenger traffic at border crossings and an influx of Russian tourists into Greece will drive strong sales this year, says the retailer

Hellenic Duty Free Shops (HDFS) is confident that sales will continue rising this year on the back of strong passenger growth at its land border stores.

The Greek retailer, which has a market value of about Eu800m ($1.09bn), noted a 9% increase in the number of people passing through airports, ports and borders in the first two months of 2007 compared with the same period last year. Passenger traffic reached 1.9m.

HDFS general director George Valentzas said in an interview with Reuters: "The indications we have up to now are satisfactory, and we remain optimistic for 2007. We are satisfied both with sales and passenger traffic performance up to now."

The company anticipates that an influx of Russians this year will also stimulate sales at its airport stores. Russian tourists are HDFS’ highest spending nationality, with an average spend of Eu80 ($108).

HDFS reported a 14.8% increase in sales last year.