Duty-free goods aiming for the first-class passenger

0 Comments | AFP, November, 2007

CANNES, France, (AFP) — From matching diamond-encrusted mother-and-daughter gold chokers to the latest must-have bags and glasses or even a hand-crafted humidor, duty-free goods are increasingly going first-class.

"We are an industry that lives and breathes some of the best brands in the world," Erik Juul-Mortensen, head of the Tax Free World Association (TFWA), told a trade salon here last week. "Let us focus on providing a shopping experience travellers will not find elsewhere."

If the annual TFWA World Exhibition was anything to go by, up-market passengers with deep pockets are heading for a bonanza spending spree while kicking their heels at airports next year.

And while leading couture houses such as Italy's Versace, France's Hermes and Germany's Boss...