TFWA: Cannes locks in the world capital of travel retail for three more years
The agreement signed on 28 September extends the partnership between the city and the organiser of the world's leading duty free event, hosted in Cannes for more than forty years, through at least 2030.
Translated from the French original. Lire en français
Cannes remains the world capital of duty free. On Monday 28 September, on the eve of the closing of the 2026 edition of the TFWA World Exhibition & Conference, TFWA president Sarah Branquinho and SEMEC president Nicolas Gorjux, whose company operates the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, signed the renewal of their partnership. Cannes will host the event from 2027 for at least three more years.
The 2026 edition, the 44th, ran from 27 September to 1 October at the Palais des Festivals. It brought together more than 3,000 brands, retailers, transport operators, airports, airlines and cruise players, according to Cannes Tourisme. The opening conference, moderated by journalist Stephen Sackur, took stock of a sector facing global economic uncertainty and fast-changing traveller expectations.
A partnership spanning more than four decades
Held at the Palais des Festivals for more than four decades, the TFWA World Exhibition & Conference is the travel retail industry's flagship annual event. The renewed agreement secures its continuity: it will return to the Palais in autumn 2027, from 3 to 7 October according to the calendar published by Cannes Tourisme.
Cannes has become much more than a destination: for one week, the city is the global meeting point and the heart of the duty free and travel retail industry.
Sarah Branquinho, president of TFWA
For SEMEC, the contract illustrates the Palais's vocation to retain major international events over the long term. Nicolas Gorjux noted that travel retail finds a particularly well-suited ecosystem in Cannes, and that the partnership fits the city's ambition to keep welcoming the world.
The 2026 edition also set the tone on substance. At the opening, Sarah Branquinho took stock of an industry facing deep transformation: a more uncertain global economic environment, fast-changing travel habits, and a traveller who is more connected, better informed and more demanding, seeking experience and personalisation rather than a simple purchase. The show also made room for solidarity: on the Palais forecourt, exercise bikes let delegates pedal for cancer research, with 10 euros donated per kilometre to the Royal Marsden Hospital's research programme in London.
Benefits beyond the Palais
For one week, Cannes does more than host a trade show: the city becomes an observatory of travel-retail trends, with stands, conferences, workshops and business meetings spilling into the Croisette's landmark venues. For the hotels, restaurants and event suppliers of the Cannes basin, retaining TFWA secures several days of high-value business traffic in the autumn shoulder season.
