Qatar Duty Free Named ‘Airport Retail Operation of the Year’

DOHA, Qatar, April 10 .  Qatar Duty Free (QDF) has won the DFNI-Frontier ‘EMEA Airport Retail Operation of the Year’ award for its exceptional retail offering and customer service.

The award was presented at a ceremony and charity ball that took place on 5 April 2019 at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London, and was received by Qatar Duty Free Vice President Operations, Mr. Thabet Musleh. Winners were selected by a panel of high-profile experts in retail from across the duty free industry.

The ‘EMEA Airport Retail Operation of the Year’ award recognises QDF’s outstanding commercial performance and excellent customer service to more than 30 million passengers annually.

The travel retailer was also commended for its commitment to its employees through the QDF Learning Academy, which offers all employees training through its career development program.

Qatar Duty Free Senior Vice President, Mr. Bruce Bowman, said: “At Qatar Duty Free, we strive to provide new, exciting and memorable experiences for our customers, and we are delighted that this has been acknowledged by the duty free industry.

Being named ‘EMEA Airport Retail Operation of the Year’ is a significant achievement, and is recognition of our efforts to enhance our customers’ shopping experience.  We will continue to innovate to ensure that our passengers enjoy a five-star travel shopping journey, both in flight and at Hamad International Airport.”

QDF collaborates with Qatar Airways, Hamad International Airport and leading global brands to deliver innovative retail concepts, such as the Qatar Airways Travel Boutique and the world-exclusive Dior La Parfums Podium.

In addition, QDF recently opened two souqs in celebration of Qatar National Day selling traditional Arabian products made in Qatar. Earlier this month, Al Jazeera Perfumes, the well-known Qatari fragrance brand, opened its first airport boutique at HIA.

QDF boasts more than 90 affordable and luxury stores as well as more than 30 restaurants and cafés covering an area of 40,000 square metres at HIA and providing travellers with a world-class shopping experience under one roof. Luxury brands available at the five-star airport include Tiffany & Co., Gucci, Bulgari, Hermès, Hugo Boss, Moncler, Rolex and Harrods.

QDF was named ‘Airport Retailer of the Year’ at the 2018 DFNI Global Awards. In April, the leading airport retailer was recognised at the PAX International Readership Awards, when Qatar Airways won the ‘Best In-Flight Duty Free Program’ award for the Middle East for the third time in four years and was acknowledged as an industry leader for its outstanding in-flight duty free service, which is operated by Qatar Duty Free.

HIA, the home of QDF, has been ranked as the Fourth Best Airport in the World at the SKYTRAX World Airport Awards 2019, which took place during the Passenger Terminal Expo 2019 in London, United Kingdom.

HIA has also once again been ranked as a five-star Airport and was honoured with the title of SKYTRAX ‘Best Airport in the Middle East’ for the fifth year in a row and ‘Best Staff Service in the Middle East’ for the fourth year in a row.