China Duty Free Group (CDFG), the world’s largest travel retailer by sales (according to The Moodie Davitt Report’s annual benchmark rankings), has been named ‘The 2023 Most Influential Cultural Tourism Enterprise – Best Brand Value Communication’ at the 10th Culture and Tourism Integration and Innovation Forum held recently in Wuwei, Gansu province.
Themed ‘Cross-sector Integration and Growth’, the forum was attended by culture tourism experts and academics, representatives from the business community and government officials from across the country.

Attendees engaged in in-depth dialogue on the high-quality development of culture and tourism integration, shared best practices and research results, and discussed possible collaborations.
CDFG earned its accolade as the ‘2023 Culture and Tourism High-quality Development Model Entities’ were revealed.
The title recognises CDFG’s efforts in innovative communication driven by its ‘Duty Free+’ philosophy, which seeks to fuse travel retail with a wider cultural and tourism approach.
CDFG had been recognised for continuously relating new stories about China’s travel retail industry to global audience by offering a wide variety of content through different media and formats.
As China’s domestic tourism market continues to evolve, CDFG has been actively adapting its consumer communication model, expanding channels and creating new methods and messages. Its goal is to elevate the influence of China’s travel retail sector among international and domestic consumer bases.
In early 2023, CDFG launched its WeChat Channel as a new communication platform to showcase its Hainan offshore duty free offer. The wealth of brand content across diversified formats serves to bridge the gap between CDFG and consumers and to expand the influence of China’s travel retail market.
CDFG underlined its effort to support the travel retail industry both in China and internationally. It participated in the third Hainan Expo in April with a 600sq m pavilion that shone a light on new global consumer goods trends and the century-old heritage of China Tourism Group.
During the Expo, CDFG also co-hosted the 3rd Global Consumption Innovation & Duty Free and Travel Retail Conference, the Sustainable Consumption Summit Forum and other events, carrying out in-depth discussions with duty free and travel retail experts and other industry leaders.
Such dialogue and exchange were instrumental in helping stakeholders explore new development opportunities, share China’s travel retail insights and promote the innovative vitality and dynamic development of the country’s travel retail market.
On 28 August, The Moodie Davitt Report released its annual Top Travel Retailers report, in which CDFG solidified its position as the world’s largest travel retailer for a third straight year based on 2022 sales.   
CDFG has taken advantage of the tourism industry’s strong recovery this year to upgrade its member benefits and membership system, striving to deliver better services and consumer experience to its customers.
In addition to enriching its own brand value, CDFG has also assisted parent company China Tourism Group with the coordinated development of its related tourism businesses. This in turn has boosted the recovery and growth of the country’s tourism industry – a key component of the group’s responsibility as a state-owned enterprise.
CDFG was included in the ‘2023 China’s 500 Most Valuable Brands’ report with an estimated brand value of over CNY116.5 billion (US$16.2 billion), ranking first in the tourism service industry. That ranking serves as another testament to China Tourism Group’s leading status in the tourism sector.
CDFG pledged to remain committed to the Hainan market, backed by the strong support of China Tourism Group. It also promised to keep developing new retail businesses and resources across all important channels.    
The group plans to enter into innovative collaborations within the industry as a way to better serve the diverse demands of consumers, support the development of travel retail and elevate the brand value of China’s cultural tourism sector.

Source: ©The Moodie Davitt Report