TFWA Cannes 2025. TRunblocked.com’s Perspective: An Excellent Week, But There Are Still Flaws (But Fixable).
6 minutes read
Introduction by: Peter Marshall
There is no doubt that Cannes 2025 was a vintage year for the travel retail industry. The buzz around this year’s exhibition was real. But there are still some unanswered questions and issues that need addressing and I have highlighted these in what I hope is a balanced way – one dedicated to making this great event work even better for all.
Taking stock of the week is never easy and actually never the same each year. 2025 was all about numbers, misnomers, missing press conferences, Frontier flaws and disappearing taxis.
Let me start by saying that this was a very, very good week for business as a whole – shared almost universally by everyone that my team – @Claire Wates and @Colleen Morgan talked to. We knew it was always going to be busy for TRunblocked because my personal diary was 90% full by the end of July. And so it proved – it was a remarkable week with a great vibe throughout.
Elastic Numbers?
But just how much traffic did the event actually enjoy? TFWA released visitor numbers of 7999. My observation, and certainly that of others, felt it was less. Monday was about the same as last year, Tuesday was busier than Wednesday and Thursday genuinely looked quite slow indeed in terms of traffic numbers on site. The Asia visitor figure that TFWA released appeared lower than expected. And if registered Turkey visitors were not placed in Europe, where were they allocated? Bolstering the Asia attendance segment?
Having said this, regardless of the numbers, everyone was happy with the quality of the buyers coming on stand.
To Be Or Not To Be?
This industry knows my thoughts on the conference. Whilst it may have been a good idea in earlier years, I think it is a luxury we could dispense with. Everyone wants to get down to business as soon as possible – especially the buyers – and a morning start makes profound sense. However worthy and interesting the speakers may be – it’s been a very mixed quality for many years – most people I spoke to did not attend and were either supervising finishing touches to their stands or were already in meetings. Everyone said that they preferred to start earlier. This would also, importantly, give the buyers more time to spread their wings and go onto stands they would not otherwise have time to do so.
Cannes Stay
TFWA is an organisation dedicated to the travel retail business. They do many things very well. But agility of thinking and speed of action are arguably not their strongest points. Cannes is an institution for the business, but the cost of Cannes continues to escalate. This applies to TFWA as welI, something that should be noted. I know only too well the politics involved about any kind of move and certainly accept that it is THE event of the year, one which everyone looks forward to. It is what it is and the general feeling is that staying in Cannes implicitly means that the cost of doing business there is accepted.
But, having said this, and given their allocation,TFWA could still do a whole lot better by trying to negotiate a better deal with all or most of the hotels in the city centre. “Obscene prices” was commonly used to describe hotel accommodation on offer.
Now, looking at Singapore is an altogether different matter. It’s a great location and we all value the better quality of meetings that are held there. But the cost of attendance is spiralling. It’s time to seriously look at change. I was advised by a member of the Management Committee that a review was ‘in process’ and that members were being consulted. Two things here. One, I asked everyone I spoke to whether they had been consulted and no one said ‘yes’. Two, what does ‘in process’ actually mean? Just a cocoon-like approach by consulting with others in the Management Committee? TFWA did not hold any press conference in Cannes – and they should have – so the travel retail press were not able to ask any valid questions about the event itself, what ‘in process’ actually means, or timelines for any new ideas that could be revealed. We need better communication and transparency.
Innovation What?
I had to be reminded about the purpose of Innovation Square. I see the commercial advantages to TFWA, but I hope you will forgive me for being slightly baffled by the odd mix happening in that Avolta-sponsored, very eye-catching pavilion. It’s great that the workshops could be held there. But ‘innovation’ as showcased there seemed quite limited. A very small number of brands appeared and there was no evidence of what you would reasonably expect from challenger or tech businesses that would add interest and incremental value to visitors. One person bemoaned the lack of robots, another answered: “have you not met any buyers yet?”
Of course it is early days, but when asked why there were so few businesses/brands present, the response was that it would be too difficult for the ‘stands’ to be moved to accommodate other events.
Sorry, the purpose of Innovation Square? These other events included a party by Lacoste and a presentation by Sterling Perfumes to, amongst others, some 60 influencers. So, again, purpose? Innovation Square should perhaps be rebadged or rethought. How about using that great space as a combination of a much needed food hall combined with stalls, not stands, of a potpourri of businesses trying to access the TR business in a more affordable way? At least that would keep interest, serve the business community, generate income and be a lot busier on Thursday than Innovation Square was when we visited.
Go back to go forward
I’ve already mentioned that the conference is arguably an agenda item that could be dispensed with. TFWA has built a significant money war chest as an organisation – both a responsible and good thing to offset any future challenges. This said, it could be elegantly argued that the Gala Dinner should be revived for Thursday night – not to the excess levels of earlier years – but revived. This would achieve a number of things. One, to cement and reflect everyone’s hard work for the week and give a wider group of people the opportunity to enjoy a great night. Two, it may well keep buyers there, getting around more brands, rather than disappearing as many do on Wednesday. Three, it means that Thursday becomes a full exhibition working day, with Friday closing the show. Why not?
Frontier Flaws
Frontier is an institution, our very own annual ‘Oscar’ awards ceremony. This year was not much different in that the award winners were a mixture of predictable, worthy and unusual choices. The only comments I would make are these. The first is that I feel very strongly that no event sponsor should enter any category. They can receive on-site branding and media coverage that can be delivered in other ways. I appreciate the positional impact this may have, but it feels fundamentally wrong.
The second point is that why only have Influential Woman in Travel Retail as an award? Isabel Zarza is unquestionably a worthy winner,but what about an equal platform for the men in this remarkable business?
The third point is one where we need to remind ourselves that Qatar Duty Free is a very unique operation. Its business model is not the same as anywhere else, making it difficult to make any reasonable comparisons. There is no question that Thabet Musleh and his very talented team have done a remarkable job for QDF and continue to set new industry benchmarks. The Pentarchy lives and breathes there – precisely because it can. Precious few other global locations can house airport, airline, and duty free operator under the same umbrella – something that should be borne in mind by any panel of worthy jurors. Just saying….
Taxi Troubles
Is it my imagination or were there far fewer taxis around this year? And who else had trouble dealing with Uber? We stay in a wonderful boutique hotel in Juan-Les-Pins, just 20 minutes away. Uber always promises a driver, who then rarely arrives. When you cancel because they keep delaying (even though there are, I quote here from their screen message, ‘many drivers in your area’), they then charge you for the privilege of cancelling. Nice business model. Not!
And the taxis? We had one ride that said 30 euros for the ride from the Palais to the hotel, didn’t turn the meter on, and then charged 60 euros on arrival. Another said that it was a mandated, municipality policy for taxis to charge 70 euros for the same journey. Seriously? Other taxis quoted a range from 55 to 65 euros for exactly the same trip. Uber’s only advantage is their price point – approximately 27 euros for the same journey – if they turn up. So, lessons learned. Next year it’s either the 8 minute train journey or a move into the city centre and AirBnB.
Summary
All told, it was still an excellent week. But just how much change can we expect next year? My guess, not a lot – the jury’s out for now. My passion for this business, even after 30 years, remains an absolute. We can only hope that positive change for the good of all – perhaps even some of the ideas listed above – will happen.
