Once again the mood was excellent with all the big groups present, and plenty of new visitors and exhibitors.
The 2023 TFWA World Exhibition & Conference hosted a total of 7,385 visitors – a figure that is up 23% from 6,017 in 2022. The figure compares to 7,531 visitors at the 2019 event, which remains the visitor attendance record.
However, in the key sector of buyers and landlords, the 2023 event set a new record attendance of 2,761 delegates, a significant increase of 15% on the 2019 figure.
With a large number of brands hosting larger stands than in previous years, the 2023 exhibition occupied a new record footprint of 25,212m², up from 20,751m² in 2022 and 23,443m² in 2019. 450 companies exhibited, 92 new or returning exhibitors. These exhibitors came from 8 sectors and from as far afield as Uruguay, Jordan and Peru.
There were 116 wines, spirit and beer companies.
Diverse Flavours was the only South African exhibitor, but it should be noted that the big European wine groups that now own South African wines were present and had their South African wines present on their stands. This really is a new development and highlights that these companies see the opportunities in the duty free channel for South African wines.
My thoughts on this development – from a positive point of view it means that Diverse Flavours is no longer alone in trying to establish South African wines into the Travel Retail channel, but on the other hand it means we now have competition from quality companies who know what they are doing in duty free! So we will need to work even harder to get the listings, support them, maintain them and offer the best, most varied and dynamic portfolio of quality of wines, while providing great service, with speed and flexibility.
Our stand location remained the same as last year which seems to work well. We had just over 55 meetings at our stand, and numerous conversations and discussions off stand during the week.
Latest industry data highlights
IATA global passenger numbers for the first six months of 2023 are around 10% behind their pre-COVID level, although the deficit for June narrowed to 5.8%. The recovery is however patchy with some airports in Europe much closer to pre-pandemic levels. Traffic in Asia is taking longer to return, with airlines passengers in June at three-quarters of their 2019 level. There is however a large expectation that Chinese passenger numbers will soon increase, and this should drive sales and spend per passenger numbers.
The forecast is for global air traffic to hit 8.6 billion passengers in 2023. 94% of pre pandemic levels.
But there are concerns in some quarters that rising airfares and cost of living will dilute the demand for air travel.
Even though traffic is recovering strongly , average spend per passenger is below pre pandemic levels.
And finally a quote from the TFWA President about this year’s event:
“We thought that the mood was great at TFWA World Exhibition & Conference 2022, but the atmosphere this year has reached another level. Beyond just the large number of attendees, it is the spirit that we have seen that has been remarkable – the quality of the exhibition and those attending it has been outstanding. It is particularly gratifying to be able to welcome delegates from all parts of the world once again, and there is no doubt that TFWA World Exhibition & Conference has fully returned to being a truly global event.”
Erik Juul-Mortensen, TFWA President
