THE WINDS OF CHANGE AMERICAS: NORTH AMERICA'S STRONG ECONOMY IS LEADING THE WAY FOR OPTIMISM IN THE REGION'S TRAVEL RETAIL MARKET.

Airlines saw passenger traffic growth slow to 3.9% last year, down from 5.0% in 2018, according to data from IATA. Meanwhile the region's "mature market" status is showing signs of "emerging market" growth rates, according to a recent ACI North America report, The reasons for passenger traffic increases are numerous: medium and smaller sized airports have been steadily improving alongside regional population growth outside major cities, which has also had an impact on airport competition and new incentives for low-cost carriers to expand into new routes. "We have opened and refurbished stores in Fort Lauderdale International Airport, Charlotte International Airport and Dallas-Fort Worth to name but a few, and we had some exciting omnichannel launches with key airline partners--notably Singapore Airlines in Asia and Avianca in the Americas, which is a strategy we plan to continue into 2020", he says, adding: "3Sixty's global footprint means we serve all main passenger profiles, be it through our omnichannel offer, inflight programs or physical stores in airports and cruise terminals. "One of the biggest highlights over the last 12 months is that we've expanded our duty-free operation in George Bush International Airport (IAH) in Houston, we opened a series of six stores and warehouse facilities in Terminals A, B and D. "We absorbed the stores and operations from ATU, we occupied their stores in the current square footage, which is about 700sq ft, but we're talking to the airport operators about additional space. [Extracted from the article]