TFWA and ACI join forces for global airport event

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Tax Free World Association (TFWA) and Airports Council International (ACI) will jointly host the first Global Airport Trade Exhibition, known as Gate One, in Singapore next year

The event will coincide with TFWA Asia Pacific, and will be held from May 21-23.

The new show will be aimed at all commercial sectors of airport operation, while TFWA Asia Pacific will continue to cater for duty-free and travel-retail.

Gate One will have its own exhibition space in the Suntec Centre, while the Gate One conference will be held at the end of the week. TFWA will still host its own conference early in the week. Delegates will probably have access to both events, although the details are still being finalised.

TFWA ceo Andrew Ford said: "We're both non-profit organisations, we have good relations and we believe a joint event will have real value for our members. This will develop a platform to bring in airport authorities to our show, and will be a one-stop shop for all airports' commercial needs. It's a major event for the travel and airport industries."

TFWA president Erik Juul-Mortensen said: "Gate One will provide suppliers the chance to showcase their products and services to an international audience of airport executives."

Asia/Pacific was chosen because of the vast potential of the market, said TFWA. There are no plans to extend the new format to other TFWA events.

Meanwhile, TFWA Asia Pacific will be held in Singapore for the next two years, and possibly 2005, TFWA has confirmed. The decision was made after negotiations with two other candidate cities, Hong Kong and Shanghai, and was based on the lower costs available as well as discussions with members.

Ford added: "We anticipate that by 2005 we will be drawing a much larger audience of travel-retail and airport business executives and that the combined exhibitions (ACI and TFWA) will represent twice the surface area of today's Asia Pacific event."