Africa Travel Retail is set for growth despite challenges

“Let’s make Africa the driving force of travel retail” was the call to action from Scent of Africa Sales Manager, Loice Muforo, during a session titled The next wave of Africa Travel Retail, at the MEADFA Conference this week in Dubai.

Muforo was joined on stage by ACI Africa Secretary General, Ali Tounsi; Heinemann Sales Director Middle East Africa, Harald Suenner and  JTI Vice President Global Travel Retail, Claudio Ferreira, with moderator, The Moodie Davitt Report’s Dermot Davitt.

The panel addressed how brands and operators can navigate the diverse and challenging Africa Travel Retail market.

Ali Tounsi

ACI Africa Secretary General, Ali Tounsi outlined airport transport challenges in the market, with development being held back by several issues. He stated that overcoming these obstacles is crucial if the sector is to finally take-off and become the true engine of African prosperity.

However, Africa’s airport transport future trajectory is promising, driven by strong population growth, rapid urbanisation, and the emergence of a middle class.

He sounded a note of confidence when detailing passenger movement across the African continent, that has seen stable growth, based on passenger traffic YTD August 2025, with a 20% increase since 2019.

Overall, he noted passenger numbers are healthy and there is sustainable growth, showing a generous phase of expansion. They are expected to keep rising year-on-year, supported by population growth, globalisation and and the steady increase in demand for air travel. Meanwhile, a few keys markets will continue to dominate the landscape.

Growth is occurring despite challenges, wars, conflicts, human shortages, aircraft delivery delays and air traffic control issues, and investment is taking place in airport and aviation.

Tounsi said: “Africa’s air traffic is on a sustainable growth path. The challenge now is to conflate this growth into long-term sustainability, through collaboration and innovation.”

From a travel retailer point of view, Heinemann Middle East Africa Sales Director Middle East Africa, Harald Suenner told delegates that Africa is a daily challenge, and across the continent’s 54 countries, nothing is homogeneous, so in order to navigate the changing dynamics, the retailer is looking for strong partners to help it understand the markets, and enable them to do strong and stable business with a global assortment.

He said: “Bringing this to Africa is a joy because the opportunities are huge.” He discussed existing successful joint ventures, including a 20-year partnership with Big Five Duty Free: “This joint venture approach in Africa makes us and our partners strong”, he added.

He outlined that while airports are very important to the company, duty free is much more than the airports and African land borders are also a great opportunity for travel retail. Heinemann has established a duty free shop in the Port of Cape Town, and this multi-channel and partnership approach is the way forward for the travel retailer.

On the subject of consumer habits and tastes, he commented that Africa consumers are often misunderstood, they are affluent, they are exploring and are very well educated. African consumers are very interested in new brands and duty free can be a good platform for brands as a way to spread into domestic markets. Heinemann enables local partners to run the shops so there is local expertise and support for local businesses.

Loice Muforo

Scent of Africa Sales Manager, Loice Muforo began her presentation by saying: “Africa is rising, not emerging, it is confident and connected. The modern African consumer is a dynamic traveller, they are diverse, sophisticated and proud. Travellers want authenticity, not just global names… Brands must speak to them, not at them.”

On the demographics of the continent, she said the median age of the 1.4 billion population is 19, there is a new generation that is digital, confident and connected. The Beauty & Personal Care market will account for US$20bn by 2030 and the Luxury market, US$10bn by 2030.

Discussing the role of travel retail in Africa, Muforo said it is about connecting consumers to authentic African products. Africa is a gateway to the world, where according to IATA data, by 2035 there will be more than 300 million passengers. Travel retail gives African brands visibility and voice, and collaboration is key to unlocking the channel’s full potential in Africa, however, the key barriers to this happening are fragmented logistics and costly distribution, complex regulations, counterfeits and brand trust issues.

She concluded with the message that the way forward is to connect authentically by understanding the African consumer and with collaboration through local and global partnerships.

Claudio Ferreira

JTI Vice President Global Travel Retail, Claudio Ferreira said the company is looking at the long-term in Africa, with the consumer at the centre. The company is tapping into growth areas; it is strong in North Africa and West Africa and is focusing on synchronising its products within the Africa travel retail channel.

He added: “We see a trend line of growth, it isn’t a straight line, it accelerates a lot. You have to invest now.”