Royal Schiphol Group (RSG), the operator of Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport (AMS), outlined its investment plans to improve facilities, services, and keep the commercial business moving during a workshop at the global convention of the duty-free and travel retail (GTR) industry in Cannes last week.

The TFWA World Exhibition & Conference was attended by the top retail executives and brands from the industry. During the workshop—where Oliver Wyman data suggested that while passenger traffic grew by 6.2% CAGR from 2023 to 2025, GTR sales only increased by 2.7%—RSG’s Chief Commercial Officer Arthur Reijnhart was clear that airports needed to improve their performance in this critical area for income.

The CCO said: “When we look at the cost of traveling, the fundamentals are not really helpful at this point. Airport taxes are rising, the cost of fuel is rising, plus there is a whole wave of investments that needs to happen in Europe’s airports because almost all of them—though trailblazing in the sixties and seventies—now need a reinvestment phase.”

Reijnhart told the audience that AMS is pumping in EUR1bn/year for the next 15 years to ensure the airport sees a new wave of growth. Last year, AMS was the fifth-busiest airport globally for international traffic, with 68.67 million passengers. However, this is down 4.1% from its pre-COVID19 traffic, a familiar story across several large mainland Europe hubs.

Correlating Duty-free Spending and Cost of Travel

In a panel discussion, Reijnhart said: “The cost of doing business for airlines is rising quite steeply, and even though there is not a strong correlation yet between spending in duty-free and the cost of travel, it is an area that we are looking at really closely. The correlation will show up at some point.”

The new Oliver Wyman report commissioned by TFWA says that although price is no longer the most important purchase criterion, value remains important. It notes: “Travelers continue to expect an average discount of ~18% versus domestic retail.” At AMS, Schiphol and retail partner Lagardère Travel Retail have been experimenting with making the in-store price advantage more visible, for example by benchmarking.

Oliver Wyman Partner Pierre-Alexandre Koch said: “At AMS you see regular price comparison with leading Dutch retailers and it is displayed on-shelf. You see what you pay at the airport with what you would pay in the domestic market. This is one way to create transparency on price and engender trust.”

Reijnhart added: “Our audience is still a captive one, so the size of the opportunity is really the sum of the parts.” By that he meant that every component of the airport process, from standing in line too long for check-in, baggage drop or security “directly impacts the spend per passenger”. It is the same story for space: congested airports impede spending “no matter how young or how old you are,” he said.

This is why AMS has committed to EUR1bn/year as it commits to a much-needed recovery. Reijnhart concluded: “The total passenger experience from check-in to boarding needs to be seamless and of high quality. Only then are we able to offer a really great commercial experience.” He cited Rome Fiumicino (FCO) as a great example of how a concerted revitalization has propelled the airport from a low ACI ranking into what is now a high-quality hub.