Global travel retailer Dufry extends its Cambodia duty-free concession

Dufry has extended its duty-free concession at Cambodia’s three international airports in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville or five and a half years.

The airports handled a total of 11.6 million international travellers in 2019, although these kind of figures are not expected to return for a while as COVID continues to restrict global travel.

The extended concession contract starts in October 2021 and covers departure and arrival duty-free shops at the Phnom Penh and Siem Reap hubs as well as the departure shop at the Sihanoukville airport with a total sales area of 2,680sqm, which Dufry has operated ever since 2003.

As part of the contract extension and aligned with Cambodia Airports’ retail development plan, Dufry will refurbish the duty-free shops at the Phnom Penh and Siem Reap airports, while the departure store at Sihanoukville was already successfully redesigned in 2019.

It notes that its shops offer customers a comprehensive selection of the core duty-free categories including perfume and cosmetics and confectionery.

To match VINCI Airports’ “sense of place” approach, the new offering will be complemented by an attractive assortment of local Cambodian products and souvenirs. All departure stores are conceived as walk-trough shops.

Announcing the contract extension, Dufry’s chief operating officer for Asia-Pacific, Pedro Castro, said: “We thank our partners of Cambodia Airports and are honoured to have been given the opportunity to further extend our close collaboration and to foster this long-standing relationship.

“Through the refurbishment of our main shops we will provide travellers with a new and attractive shopping experience, thus further increasing productivity of these important Cambodian hubs, which enjoy an increasing attention of international passengers.”

Alain Brun, CEO of Cambodia Airports, noted: “It is a vote of confidence. The partners share an optimistic outlook for global air travels and the many opportunities that the return of passengers will confer to airports and retailers with creative minds.

“To provide a seamless experience at our airports in Cambodia and to cope with the latest trends in travel retail, our teams will prioritise key objectives including accelerating the moves towards e-commerce, synergies between online-offline sales channels, and putting emphasis on health & wellness offerings.”