TFWA RE-ELECTS JUUL-MORTENSEN TO PRESIDENCY AFTER RECORD-BREAKING YEAR

 

TFWA is very pleased to announce that Erik Juul-Mortensen, one of the founding members of the Association, has been re-elected to the Presidency as the Association enters a landmark year.

Mr Juul-Mortensen’s fifteenth term of office will coincide with the 30^th anniversary of the Association which was set up by a handful of brand-owners on a not-for-profit basis in 1984. Its motto ‘by the trade, for the trade’ remains a guiding principle of the Association today.

Mr Juul-Mortensen has been a member of the TFWA Management Committee throughout its existence. He was elected to the Board in 1986, serving as Vice President Marketing & Communication for ten years with a further year as VP Special Projects. He was elected President in September 1999.

The Presidential election took place at a meeting of the Management Committee on 6^th December in Madrid at which the events organised by TFWA during the past year were reviewed and assessed.

2013 has been an extraordinary year for the Association, with the successful launch of the first industry association event in China and record attendances in terms of exhibitors and visitors at both of the TFWA exhibition and conference events.

In March, over 370 visitors from 200 duty free and travel retail companies attended the inaugural China’s Century Industry Conference, organised in Beijing by TFWA in partnership with APTRA, which was hailed by delegates as a benchmark for the industry.

Two months later, TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition & Conference attracted a record 2,452 visitors from over 1,000 companies and 253 exhibiting brand-owners, more than ever before, to the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Center in Singapore, a new and evidently very popular venue.

The annual TFWA World Exhibition & Conference, confirming its status as the most important event in the global duty free and travel retail industry calendar, welcomed a record 6,303 trade visitors from nearly 3,000 companies and 470 exhibiting companies to the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France in October.

At their meeting this month, the Board and Management Committee of TFWA also studied plans for the forthcoming events in 2014: TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition & Conference at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore from 11^th to 15^th May and the 30^th anniversary edition of TFWA World Exhibition & Conference in Cannes from 26^th to 31^st October 2014.

Following the successful 2013 MEADFA Conference in Doha, TFWA has won the contract to organise the MEADFA Conferences in 2014 and 2015 on behalf of the Middle East & Africa Duty Free Association.

Plans are in hand also for a second TFWA & APTRA Industry Conference on China which will take place in March 2015.

This year TFWA has continued its extensive Research Programme on behalf of its members and has extended its targeted charitable programme through TFWA Care which under the motto ‘Good things only happen if we make them happen’ supports charities and initiatives for those who are less fortunate.

Finally, this year TFWA revealed its commitment to the development of a new global duty free and travel retail umbrella organisation, the Duty Free World Council which has received the full support and backing of all regional industry trade associations and which will be launched officially in early 2014.

Further details of TFWA events can be found at www.tfwa.com.