A Duty-free adventure

With passenger numbers soaring in India, the airport retail sector is deploying AI- driven personalisation, immersive experiences, and strategic layouts to captivate a new generation of travellers.

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Beyond flashy airport exteriors, an emphatic retail transformation is unfolding inside aerodromes across India.

Echoing a global trend, airport retail has its focus riveted on AI-powered digital and immersive experiences, personalised services, contactless payments, experience-led formats, and sustainability. Deeper air connectivity to Tier 2 and 3 cities is spreading this trend inward, reflecting the needs of arising middle class, while Gen Z and Millennials shape the core of the country's international traveller base.

International travel is surging, with passenger numbers touching 211 million in 2024, an 11.1 per cent growth over the previous year, as recorded by IATA. Airport retail has kept pace, responding to demand for discovery, digital ease, and sustainability. Travel retail formats have turned more immersive and purpose-led. Shaped by shifting traveller behaviour, duty-free zones have seen an accelerated structural growth, gearing up to double their size by 2029, as recent studies show.

DUTY-FREE RIDING THE NEW GROWTH CURVE

Led by an Experience-First strategy, Indian duty-free retail is entering a new growth curve, notes the latest Asia Pacific Travel Retail Association (APTRA) report published in April 2025. Travellers, the report notes, are shifting spend towards lifestyle-led segments such as beauty, wellness, tech, and gourmet. Driven by rising affluence and gifting demand, alcohol sales on duty-free shelves are now dominated by single malts, aged whiskies, craft gins, and boutique liquors.