PROFESSIONAL/ The End of Duty Free Shops?

Many travelers love to spend their time in duty free stores as they wait for their flights. Many tourists may often snatch up everything that they can see thinking that they save a lot of money anyway. However, it may not always be so. The world’s first-ever duty free shop opened at Shannon Airport in Ireland in 1947. The store still works today. Airport employees noticed that passengers of transit flights, who change planes on the way from Europe to the USA, were spending a lot of time at th...

Asia Pacific travelers stretch their travel budgets by shopping at duty free stores, according to a survey commissioned by Visa. The Visa Travel Smart Survey asked 2,226 travelers from across the Asia Pacific region on their travel spending habits and found that Korean and Chinese travelers spent the most on duty free items on their last trip with an average expenditure of US$ 358 and US$ 333 respectively. This was US$ 100 more than the regional average. Brian McGrory, Regional Head, Debit Prod...

You may know Hong Kong as the place to buy a fake Rolex for less than a tenner, but at the airport you’ll get the real deal as the hub is a magnet for luxury brands. Go to the East Hall of Hong Kong International airport (HKIA) and you will be in designer heaven. There you can feast your eyes on a combination of brands that some of the world’s best shopping streets would be hard pushed to match. They include: Agnes b, Bottega Veneta, Celine, Chanel, Coach, Dunhill, Gucci, Hermes, ...

Let's face it – there is not much else to do at most airports than wander around looking at the shops, and occasionally getting the wallet out. Most of us tend to know exactly what we need to get, whether it is some aftershave, perfume, a bottle of whatever or perhaps some cigarettes, but for these more regular items where is the best place to buy them? After all, any traveler on an international flight will generally have three choices when purchasing his or her duty free. There is the a...