The leading travel retailer Dufry Ltd, which has a strong presence in the global market including duty-free, duty-paid, brand boutiques, is expanding its presence in cruise ship retail. The Swiss company with headquarters in Basel signed a new contract with Holland America Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Carnival Cruise Line to operate onboard shops increasing its presence in the cruise line sector, from 17 to a total of 27 ships.
With the new contract, Dufry Ltd will operate retail shops on additional eight Holland America Line ships and will operate shops on Norwegian Cruise Line vessel BLISS. Dufry has also signed an additional agreement with Carnival Cruise Line to operate shops on Carnival Inspiration. The new contract expands Dufry’s partnership with the Carnival Corporation, which started in May, 2017, with operations onboard Carnival Sensation and Carnival Valor.
With these new contracts, Dufry will add close to 2,800 m2 of retail space, representing a major expansion and further supporting the growth and development of the cruise line channel.
Holland America Line retail space will cover a total of 1,744 m2 across eight ships for a period of five years. The shops will offer a wide range of products including all core categories such as liquor, tobacco, perfumes and cosmetics and confectionery but also categories like sundries, souvenirs, apparel, leather and fashion accessories, sunglasses, electronics, souvenirs as well as fashion & custom jewelry.
Julían Díaz, CEO of Dufry, commented: "We are pleased with the new contracts signed as they illustrate our expertise and the strength of our portfolio with several different retail formats and at the same time will allow us to further extend our reach in relevant markets through a very interesting travel retail channel. We will continue to develop and expand our market share in cruise lines and we are very excited with this new endeavor.
One of Dufry’s main ambitions along the years has been very clear: to grow in touristic destinations and, the cruise market has been playing an important role in this context, being one of the most dynamic channels in recent years.
