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Ferrero’s Sergio Salvagno, Guillaume Voisin and Siew Ean Ng were delighted to attend the 21st Trinity Forum in Vietnam, held on November 5, 6. Described as the world’s leading airport commercial revenues event, the Trinity Forum is owned by The Moodie Davitt Report and organised in partnership with Airports Council International (ACI) Asia-Pacific & Middle East and ACI World. This year’s event was held at the Gem Center in Ho Chi Minh City and was co-hosted by Airports Corporation of Vietnam and IPP Group (IPPG).
Attended by almost 500 high level industry stakeholders events such as this provide excellent networking opportunities for Ferrero, whilst the conference offers insights, data and latest developments from airports, retailers and brands not just in the region but globally.
We heard presentations from leading retailers Avolta and Lagardère, Qatar Duty Free and Dubai Duty Free; there were also many touching tributes to DDF founder Colm McLoughlin, who died recently.
At the Gala dinner on the 6th, we heard that The Trinity Forum will return to Qatar in 2025, with Qatar Duty Free announced as the host for next year’s event. The dinner also saw significant funds ($115,000) for children’s cleft charity Smile Train.
The overall message from the event was that while the travel retail industry continues to face many challenges, with revenue currently not keeping up with passenger traffic recovery since Covid 19, there are many reasons to be positive. To succeed in the future, the industry must endeavour to collaborate more - especially in terms of sharing data – and continue to offer travellers engaging, exciting, unique and personalised shopping experiences. Digital and – increasingly - AI will play a vital role in achieving this and we must ensure our offers meet the next generation of travellers demands and needs, including sustainable and ethically sourced products.