A conference focused on travel-related retail will be held in November in Dubai, UAE.

The Middle East & Africa Duty Free Association (Meadfa) Conference, managed by TFWA, will be staged at the Jumeirah Creekside Hotel, Dubai on November 24 and 25.

Registration for the event is now open.

Issam Kazim, CEO, Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, will outline how Dubai plans to achieve its aim to become a world leader in tourism at the conference.

The conference will also hear from Dubai Airports on the development of Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central (DWC) and its “totally new approach” to the way in which services are delivered to customers.

Infrastructure developments elsewhere will also be explored in depth, notably Abu Dhabi’s new Midfield Terminal.

Broadening the scope of the conference, in ‘Retail Reinvented’, Matthew Brown of Echochamber, an online source for global retail trends, will explore how travel retail can take inspiration from the latest commercial concepts and sales techniques in domestic markets around the world.

Two workshops, which will cover the impact of new developments in technology on inflight retail and a preview into the shopping behaviour of travellers from select regions, will provide delegates with the opportunity to engage directly with experts in this dynamic area.

Moreover, the session ‘Challenges to growth in the Middle East’ will feature a run-down of the regulatory and legislative threats posed currently in the travel retail domain.

Sean Staunton, president Meadfa, said: “The programme for the 2014 Meadfa Conference is a mix of presentation and debate, information gathering and networking. We are delighted that we will welcome a very strong line-up of eminent speakers who will help us to navigate through the facts, the figures and what we believe is the very positive future we face. In this region we are seeing sustained growth in passenger numbers, exciting infrastructure developments and extraordinary evolution in the retail environment. We urge all those who are serious about their business in this region to join us in Dubai for what promises to be a landmark event.” - TradeArabia News Service