INTERNATIONAL. Aer Rianta International (ARI) has been named as a key Knowledge Hub Partner for the eagerly anticipated Virtual Travel Retail Expo 2021 (11-15 October). The Irish state-owned travel retailer will sponsor the ‘Inspire’ pillar within the programme. Each day will feature sessions dedicated to the Lead, Inspire and Transform themes, with speakers drawn from both inside and outside the travel retail community, as reported.
ARI’s support lends further strong impetus to the all-digital event, which has attracted a growing number of brand and service companies as exhibitors, with the world’s leading travel retailers committed to attending with their management and buying teams.
ARI CEO Ray Hernan said: “We are delighted to be returning to the Virtual Travel Retail Expo for a second year as a key sponsor of the Knowledge Hub. The Knowledge Hub features many of the industry’s key decision makers, disruptors and innovators and promises to be a valuable programme as we springboard our recovery.
“At ARI we are committed to inspiring our customers, our partners and our people on a daily basis and therefore it feels very fitting for us to be sponsoring the Inspire Pillar. We are very much looking forward to the event and are excited to see what the team at The Moodie Davitt Report have in store for us.”
The Knowledge Hub at the 2020 Virtual Expo received widespread praise for the depth and insight of its programme. It featured 42 Knowledge Hub sessions that attracted 30,051 views, and 32 Experience Hub sessions with 9,147 views.
The Virtual Travel Retail Expo, a follow-up to the hugely successful 2020 event but with several critical enhancements (see below) is hosted by The Moodie Davitt Report with support partnership from FILTR.QINGWA. Under a unique Loyalty Scheme, returning exhibitors from 2020 receive a -10% discount on 2020 fees if they maintain the same stand tier as last year.
BUILDING ON THE VIRTUAL TRAVEL RETAIL EXPO 2020
The inaugural Virtual Travel Retail Expo was the key trade event of the 2020 travel retail calendar, attracting over 4,370 unique visitors, who paid over 20,000 visits to the platform. 124 exhibition stands received more than 183,600 impressions and generated 179,700 content clicks.
The post-event survey revealed that 86% of exhibitors and 89% of visitors would return to Virtual Travel Retail Expo 2021.
Moodie Davitt Report and FILTR.QINGWA delivered on their commitments to corporate social responsibility at the 2020 event. Proceeds funded 112 cleft operations through cleft charity The Smile Train; saw 4,250 trees planted via The Trinity Forest Project; and donated US$16,000 to ImpactHK, the 2020 designated charity year for Women in Travel Retail.
Recognising travel retail and food & beverage Superstars
This month, The Moodie Davitt Report announced the all-important awards categories for its Travel Retail Superstars Awards, a new initiative focused on the vital role of employees, which will take place during the second
The event will be hosted by The Moodie Davitt Report with support from FILTR.Qingwa, and organised in collaboration with a select advisory committee of human resource and training specialists. They include Marcus Griffin, Global Director of People & Culture at Flash Global Logistics in the US and from 2012 until 2020 SVP/Director – Human Resources, Americas & Caribbean at Dufry; and Heidi van Roon, President & Founder of the Spark Group of Companies in Canada, which provides a range of recruitment and staffing services for luxury & airport retailers and brands.
The Travel Retail Superstars Awards, covering employees across airport, airline, downtown store and cruise sectors, will shine the spotlight on the thousands of frontline and behind the scenes heroes and heroines who have helped keep the industry going throughout 2020 and into this year. A separate FAB (Food & Beverage) Superstars Awards will be conducted separately, also during the Virtual Travel Retail Expo (details later this week).
For more information about the Travel Retail Superstars Awards and/or the Virtual Travel Retail Expo 2021, please contact Irene Revilla, Publisher, The Moodie Davitt Report (Irene@moodiedavittreport.com) or Sarah Genest, Vice President Sales & Events (Sarah@MoodieDavittReport.com).