Duty-free group Avolta bets on Michelin-starred chefs and magic tricks
World’s biggest operator of airport retail and food outlets is trying out different ways of coaxing travellers to spend more
At Avolta, the world’s biggest operator of airport duty-free and convenience stores and food outlets, some employees are as likely to do magic tricks or balloon modelling as they are to sell perfume and spirits.
What sounds like a gimmick is central to an overhaul that has helped propel the Swiss-listed group’s shares to four-year highs, although they remain far from pre-pandemic levels.
Avolta — a franchisee and operator for groups including Burger King, Costa Coffee and Starbucks — is betting that blending entertainment with shopping and dining will coax travellers to spend more and boost profitability.
For decades, the travel retail model depended largely on selling high-margin luxury goods to captive passengers. But although airport passenger numbers are recovering since the pandemic, travel retail companies remain under pressure.
Airport operators, many still repairing Covid-era balance sheets, have pushed up concession fees on retailers while online shopping and domestic duty-free markets are changing consumer behaviour, prompting Avolta to reinvent itself.
Chief executive Xavier Rossinyol, who returned to Basel-headquartered Avolta in 2022 from airline catering and retail company Gategroup, said the pandemic had exposed the limits of the old model.
“The strategy had been the same for almost 20 years — it wasn’t working anymore,” he said in an interview with the FT. After Covid, “everything was about savings. We needed a model that could grow faster than passenger numbers”.
As part of a strategy known internally as Destination 2027, Avolta — formerly known as Dufry — is switching up store formats, expanding dining options and providing entertainment.
The group, which operates over 5,100 outlets in more than 70 countries, has brought in Michelin-starred chefs such as Dabiz Muñoz into airports in Spain and introduced dining areas inside duty-free stores to encourage shoppers to stay there longer. It has also launched hybrid outlets such as coffee shops selling gifts in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, with the format being rolled out across its whole portfolio.
Avolta was formed from the $7bn merger of Dufry with Italian airport and motorway caterer Autogrill in 2023. Roughly 2.5bn people now pass through airports where it is present, yet only 700mn of them make a purchase. Raising that roughly 25 per cent penetration rate is part of Rossinyol’s strategy.
“We needed to have every different thing a passenger might value,” Rossinyol said.
Entertainment is the most eye-catching element of the shift. In 2023 Rossinyol appointed Jonathan Shotton, a former magician and design developer for Legoland, as head of entertainment.
Avolta has since launched an in-house entertainment academy, training staff in origami, magic and face painting, drawing prospective customers into stores and giving them a more interesting experience while they are there. It has installed flight simulators in Toronto, Formula One simulators in Bangalore and Madrid and opened a gaming lounge at New York’s JFK airport.
For the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year, the group built a football-themed interactive installation inside duty-free stores in Casablanca. The installations can be moved between airports and sponsored by brands, creating additional revenue streams.
There are signs the turnaround is bearing fruit. In the first nine months of 2025, Avolta reported 5.4 per cent organic sales growth with turnover of SFr10.6bn, outpacing underlying passenger growth and at a time when some competitors have reported slower growth.
After heavy cash outflows during the pandemic, the group generated SFr503mn of equity free cash flow over the period, up from SFr425mn in 2024.
Shares have climbed to about SFr48 — levels last seen during the post-Covid travel boom in early 2022.
These gains come against a mixed backdrop for rivals. China Tourism Group Duty Free has been hit by weaker domestic travel, while DFS, owned by luxury group LVMH, has been exposed to uneven tourist flows. LVMH last month agreed to sell its underperforming DFS business in Hong Kong and Macau to China’s CTG.
Analysts caution that Avolta’s turnaround is still in its early stages.
“Travel retail is still a highly cyclical business,” said Fehmi Ben Naamane at Oddo, adding that Avolta’s growth remained closely tied to recovering passenger traffic, including the gradual return of higher-spending Chinese travellers.
However, he added, the Autogrill merger had made Avolta more resilient and less exposed to emerging markets than a decade ago, while its larger size and global presence gave it “stronger negotiating power with airports over increasingly expensive concessions”.