TFWA World Exhibition numbers grow, Juul-Mortensen re-elected as president

Gavin Lipsith

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Erik Juul-Mortensen retains his presidency of the association as the association reports traffic growth at last week's TFWA World Exhibition

V&S Absolut Spirits president global duty-free Erik Juul-Mortensen has been re-elected as Tax Free World Association president for another term. Zilli travel-retail director Alexandra Schimel was welcomed to the board, as vice-president corporate, during the elections at TFWA World Exhibition last week. Existing board members Cosmopolitan Cosmetics' Donatienne de Fontaines-Guillaume, L'Oreal international marketing director of travel-retail worldwide Jean-Michel Bostroem, Dufri International's Thom Rankin and Inter Parfums' Frederic Garcia-Pelayo all retained their positions.

Total visitors to last week's show were 5% higher than the 2003 event, according to figures released by the Tax Free World Association, with 5,099 delegates from 2,614 companies attending the Cannes event. The association reported that key buyers and airport authorities represented 30% of visitor numbers at the 20th annual exhibition, with attendance from airport authorities growing 18% on last year's figures. Agents and distributors accounted for 36% of visitors.

EU delegates accounted for 49% of visitor numbers, with European non-EU countries accounting for 15%. Asia/Pacific represented 13% of visitors, Americas 10%, Middle East 9% and Africa 3%. The top ten countries were the UK, France, the US, Netherlands, UAE, South Korea, Japan, Switzerland, Finland and Germany.