Leading global travel retailers in 2021, based on turnover

In 2021, China Duty Free Group was the leading global travel retailer, with a turnover amounting to approximately 9.4 billion euros that year. Ranking second, the South Korean company known as Lotte Duty Free had a turnover of roughly four billion euros.

Travel retail and the pandemic

Many big names in the global travel retail industry, such as King Power International Group, Shilla Duty Free, and Dufry Group had experienced serious turnover declines caused by the pandemic. As a result of the outbreak, worldwide travel was virtually halted, which in turn had a massive impact on travel retail. This also means that employment was severely influenced. For example, Dufry Group, a Swiss-based travel retailer, saw its workforce get reduced by nearly 50 percent by the end of 2020. Dufry operates stores at airports, railway station and ports, as well as operating concessions a board airlines and cruise ships. The company also owns World Duty Free, one of the world’s most popular travel retail brands.

Travel retail consumers

In general, the travel retail market is mainly driven by tourists who are on the move and have their own set of reasons for going duty free. According to a survey, the price advantage attributed to shopping duty free was the leading reason why consumers made duty free and travel retail purchases. Consumers also commonly shopped with travel retail outlets to buy products that they would not be able to find at home or in order to buy a gift. About half of those surveyed felt that shopping in duty free stores is part of the overall travel experience.