Airport duty free shopping must be right up there. Because the duty free model only exists alongside overseas travel, and because most duty free stores are stuck inside virtually empty international airport terminals, there’s nothing duty-free store owners can do to change their fortunes. In New Zealand Aelia doesn't just run duty free stores (in Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin (as DFC) and Queenstown). According to the World Duty Free Council, the duty free sector has grown at more than 8 per cent a year since 2000. Non-airport based duty free stores may struggle, Wilkinson saysBut what’s different for duty free shops at the airport is the symbiotic - even co-dependent - relationship between airport and store.

Source: Stuff September 02, 2020 22:41 UTC