Singapore conference to focus on travel-retail in the global economy

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Focused on the theme of 'Travelling Through Change: Travel Retail's Defining Moments', the TFWA Asia Pacific Conference in Singapore on 21 May will analyse travel patterns in Asia/Pacific, challenges facing travel-retail in the area, and marketing techniques tailored to suit the region.

Keynote speaker Bill Emmott, The Economist editor in chief, will look at the travel sector from a worldwide perspective. Taking the theme "The Travel Sector's Role and Prospects in Today's Global Economy" Emmott will analyse the impact of a downturn in global markets on travel-retail around the world.

Following Emmott's address, delegates will be offered an in-depth analysis of inbound and outbound tourism patterns entitled "Who's Travelling and Where are they Travelling?", combining a statistical mapping of the demand for travel services and a rationale for consumer decisions.

In addition to the plenary session, four key workshops are being set up to develop the themes of the conference. In response to demand, extra time has been allocated to the workshops to allow a greater opportunity for discussion. As at last year's conference, the plenary sessions and two of the workshops will offer simultaneous translation into Japanese, Mandarin and Korean.

The following are the workshop streams for this year's event.

• Eye on China Travel Retail: Investigating the power of China's outbound travel market as well as the country's own expanding tourism business
• Asia's Future - Generation X and Generation Y Consumers: Product development and consumer advertising designed to attract young consumers in the emerging Asian markets led by advertising guru Viveca Chan of Grey Advertising Hong Kong
• Today's Consumers Respond to the Luxury Brand Proposition: Dr Nirmalya Kumar, IMD professor of marketing and e-commerce will lead a discussion of how consumers today perceive and respond to international premium brands
• Airports' Non-Aeronautical Revenues - Facing up to the Challenge: Airports Council International will lead a dialogue between airports, retailers and suppliers on how to maximise non-aeronautical revenue in a challenging economic climate.