Top 5 trends from the TFWA
The 2025 TFWA Conference & Exhibition culminated this week, following four show days filled with meetings, networking and events. Here, db reveals some of the trends shaping global travel retail’s drinks landscape right now.
Innovation and collaboration
Looking forwards and facing things together became the battle-cry of the show this year with a sense of both optimism and unity bubbling beneath the surface of what the future might hold for the GTR world.
TFWA’s new Innovation Square hosted a session on the trends reshaping travel retail and, as part of this, industry leaders looked at ways they could work together and navigate the challenges. The session, titled ‘World in flux: Travel retail amid today’s geopolitical realities’ took data from a new report commissioned by TFWA and authored by consultancy Kearney.
Kearney’s partner and chairman emeritus Alex Liu presented the study and highlighted why traffic no longer equates to value in a changing world.
Liu noted how even though “passenger levels are finally going up, if revenue isn’t, the gap is widening”. But revealed that there was room for hope because people from across all businesses in GTR were working together to find solutions.
Liu explained: “If you take away one message, however, there is room for optimism. Many of you are successfully applying across the ecosystem ways to fix the problem,”
AI alongside human connection
The advancements in AI and new technologies were not overlooked by anyone in attendance at the show this year. With a focus on artificial intelligence from day one of the conference, TFWA president Philippe Margueritte insisted: “AI is not tomorrow; it’s today. It’s not somewhere else, it right here.”
Margueritte was then joined on stage by Ameca, a human-like AI, Margueritte then explored how AI could enhance airport operations and travel retail in the future.
Rudolph Lohmeyer, parter at Kearney and head of its National Transformations Institute, also pointed out to attendees that “trade is not shrinking, but it is being rewired. Globalisation is being networked, distributed and transactional. Resilience is becoming the real competitive advantage. We need to think less about managing risk and more about adapting.”
Also speaking at the event, four-time NBA Champion and international sports figure, Tony Parker also isnsited that “human contact may seem a bit old school, but it’s essential.”
It was a sentiment that was taken on board by all in attendence. Later, whole speaking candidly at the show, CVH Spirits head of global travel retail Lynsey Eades told db that while the company has an eye on the future and all that comes with it, one of the biggest trends it saw was the way drinks brand owners should not underestimate the power of people in any way. If anything, she insisted, businesses with craft at the heart of their brands uphold their skillset all the more.
Eades said: “Any advances in AI and technology we will fully embrace, I think, for us right now, there is still a lot to be said of the people in store, so that customer interaction, and the people interaction for sure, with sampling, promotions and activation – there is a big add on purchase that you get at till points when people are involved. I think technology will make the whole process a lot better as we move forward.”
But, Eades warned: “Despite this, human connection is at the heart of our brands. Because our brands can’t be made by a computer. Our brand is made with love, time, dedication and a very knowledgeable blender and cellar master. So for us, actually our product has a heartbeat, and it’s made with love and care, and therefore we sell that on.”
Greater visibility
Being ‘seen’ was heralded as a fundamental factor within travel retail, with businesses looking at ways to maximise their presence across both infight listings as well as via airport, cruise and border store activations.
Sussex-based drinks producer The Nyetimber Group revealed new gift-oriented packaging alongside an expanded portfolio that saw its English whisky and gin brand, The Lakes gaining ground.
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The move follows its “recent listing with British Airways in March” according to Nyetimber’s head of international sales Karl Thogersen, as well as increased presence with Avolta which has afforded more visibility and engagement with travellers when passing through travel retail.
The Lakes Distillery’s second GTR-exclusive single malt, named Ascent, was showcased at the show and is set to roll out across travel retail this year. Nyetimber’s newest gift-box packaging which could be seen across its Classic Cuvée has also been designed to amplify the brand standing out in both airports and now airlines too.
Diversifying to stay ahead
Torres is broadening its reach by introducing more travel retail buyers and distributors this year to its portfolio of spirits.
Speaking to db about the way the company was assessing travel retail and responding to its trends, Torres global travel retail director Bruno Teixeira said: “Although we are a wine company, historically, a family owned business for more than 150 years and the fifth generation as well as from Spain, we also have a spirits division named Juan Torres, Master Distillers. Today, we are putting a little bit more focus on the spirits in travel retail.”
Teixeira explained that the decision had been a strategic one and that the business had been eyeing trends and what consumers buy while on the move.
He insisted: “Over the last few years, we have been complementing our range of brandies” and noted how “Spanish brandy is doing well”.
Added to this, Teixeira highlighted how the company’s “main markets are Spain, Mexico, Eastern Europe” and said that this also rang true within much of travel retail and so seemed like a good place to start to place emphasis.
Teixeira told db: “The reason we are putting a bit more focus on the spirits division is because we have been inspired to diversify the portfolio” and added that the business would reassess the situation again following the show.
Packaging that offers a sense of place
Drinks that reflect their destinations have risen in fame this year with style and packaging playing a vital role in reflecting much more than a name of a place on a box or bottle. The trend, which is much more subtle than personalisation, has its roots in mirroring brand heritage as much as souvenir-buying culture.
For instance, Italian wine producer Herita Marzotto Wine Estates was an example of how a company could shine a spotlight on its GTR-exclusive Santa Margherita Prosecco Valdobbiadene Superiore DOCG and how packaging can often say so much about a brand.
The release, which has been heralded as a tribute to la dolce vita and to Venice itself showcases packaging and label that is a nod to the city’s architecture and window designs.
Herita Marzotto Wine Estates export director Giacomo Marzotto said: “This release conveys not just exclusivity and authenticity, but also cultural depth and refined design.”
Marzotto added. “It offers travellers the chance to bring home a piece of enduring Italian beauty and craftsmanship” and pointed out the success of airport activations already in place at Rome Fiumicino International Airport and at Marco Polo International Airport in Venice with Lagardère Travel Retail, and at Milan Malpensa Airport with Avolta.
The launch has also been supported by brand ambassadors and live tastings, alongside two advertising LED walls at Marco Polo International Airport showing the new release and, according to Marzotto, “distribution continues to expand into further select locations worldwide”.
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