IPPG and China Duty Free Group accelerate opening of duty-free stores in Vietnam

The Imex Pan Pacific Group has just signed a memorandum of understanding on strategic cooperation with China Duty Free Group (CDFG) on tourism trade.

The Imex Pan Pacific Group has just signed a memorandum of understanding on strategic cooperation with China Duty Free Group (CDFG) on tourism trade.

Johnathan Hanh Nguyen's Inter-Pacific Group (IPPG) has just signed a memorandum of understanding on strategic cooperation with China Duty Free Group (CDFG), opening up opportunities for breakthrough development in the field of tourism trade between the two countries.

This strategic cooperation agreement aims to promote the partnership between IPPG and CDFG, develop business, explore new opportunities and enhance tourism exchanges between Vietnam and China.

CDFG, one of the world's largest duty-free retail groups, owns more than 200 duty-free stores in China and many other countries, and is a partner of more than 1,200 globally renowned brands.

According to Airports Council International (ACI World), in 2024, the international aviation industry is expected to recover and reach 9.4 billion passengers globally, surpassing pre-pandemic levels (9.2 billion in 2019) and reaching about 102.5% compared to 2019.

This growth forecast is largely driven by strong recoveries in regions such as Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, where passenger traffic is gradually returning to normal levels and growing.

IPPG and CDFG signed a memorandum of understanding on strategic cooperation within the framework of Trinity Forum 2024 in Ho Chi Minh City.

In Vietnam alone, according to the General Statistics Office, in the first 9 months of 2024 alone, Vietnam tourism welcomed more than 12.7 million international visitors. This year, the tourism industry could welcome about 18-18.5 million international visitors. Of which, the majority of international visitors arrive by air.

IPPG will cooperate with Vietnam Airlines and China Duty Free Group CDFG to bring Chinese customers to Vietnam in the near future.

Accordingly, the potential of the aviation retail industry is increasingly evident. It is noted that in 2023, non-aviation revenue will grow, accounting for 30-40% of total revenue of global airports. This is a positive sign that the travel retail and duty-free industry is on the way to recovery after the pandemic.

CDFG has prepared to open Duty Fee shops in Vietnam with IPPG. According to Mr. Johnathan Hanh Nguyen, Chairman of IPPG, CDFG's ability to open duty free shops is very fast and effective.

Meanwhile, IPPG has plans to welcome a huge number of tourists from China. It can be seen that 2025 is the year of the explosion of Chinese tourists coming to Vietnam to immediately open duty-free shops.

This is an official step for the two sides to implement the memorandum of understanding signed in March to seek premises and orient development plans. The two sides will open 3 duty-free stores in Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang and Mong Cai. At that time, according to disclosed information, the duty-free store in Bac Luan 1, Mong Cai border gate city, will open in 2024. The duty-free store down the street in Nha Trang will be invested in this year and opened in early 2025.

However, this plan cannot be implemented this year. As for the duty-free store in Ho Chi Minh City, the two sides are still looking for a location in District 1. Previously, the location of Parkson Saigon Tourist Plaza in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City (closed in 2023) was considered the "stronghold" that the investor chose to open a duty-free store in the city for the convenience of tourists shopping.

It is estimated that these three duty-free shopping malls will attract about 20 million Chinese visitors to Vietnam each year. This is especially the high-end, high-spending segment.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/ippg-va-china-duty-free-group-day-nhanh-mo-cua-hang-mien-thue-tai-viet-nam-d229415.html