We’ve launched Distilled 2025 - our annual Consumer Trends Report.
Serving the international traveller by land, air and sea
Travel retail represents the unique shopping spaces and duty free options active in airports and dedicated duty free sites all over the world. Global Travel also serves the airline and cruise ship community for on board purchases and in bar experiences.
The business brings exclusive brand extensions and limited editions to travellers as well as in-airport experiences including gifting boutiques and whisky studios.
#1
Whisky in Travel Retail (Johnnie Walker)
#1
Liqueur in Travel Retail (Baileys)
#1
Premium gin in Travel Retail (Tanqueray)
Nurturing global giants, creating prized limited editions and exclusives
Global Travel is a brand building marketplace, with a consumer in a different mindset, captive, shopping with a different lens to the ordinary.
A showcase opportunity enabling brands like Johnnie Walker to reach the No.1 whisky spot and our single malts to become the rare liquid gift or treat for shoppers in transit.
The Boutique experience
Creating opportunities to explore our world leading brand portfolio – taste and experience
At strategic airports and duty free sites across the world we are creating unique retail spaces to profile, engage, sample and gift our brands. These new boutiques are positioned in the most significant travel retail shopping hubs globally.
Places where consumers want a tangible moment of connection, an exclusive that they cannot get on a high street or in their home market.
Focusing on our unrivalled Scotch portfolio these boutiques are combining the digital with the physical experience – but above all the opportunity to taste and learn about making the moment with them.
Travel Retail, the home of gifting
Gifts for self and others, for holiday moments, festive occasions and souvenirs with a sense of occasion and place
The majority of consumers purchasing in travel retail are looking for a gift, something unique which cannot be bought just anywhere. The travel environment therefore presents an opportunity for brands to both build a platform for engagement, fame and luxury, showcasing their qualities and adding to their offer.
Johnnie Walker Blue Label does this in select airports with a focus on a small, sustainable luxury moment. The Blue Label gifting studios, offer not only a personalized leather luggage tag symbolising first class travel, but gift wrapping – available nowhere else. Elevating Blue Label beyond its rare liquid.
ESG
Promoting positive drinking amongst the travelling community
Building partnerships, providing choice and creating impactful moderation campaigns to make responsible consumption an aspirational norm
Promoting positive drinking within the travel environment is core to our licence to operate and our model of premiumisation. We want consumers to drink better NOT more. We believe that the opportunity to develop campaigns is significant given the unique retail space and the mindset of the consumer travelling.
We activate in partnership and through the portfolio to promote moderation. Each year we create campaigns, provide tools and brands to lead this change. Most recent examples would be Tanqueray’s 0.0% non-alcoholic gin, with our #aholidaytoremember campaign supported by the DrinkIQ quiz in partnership with Heathrow and British Airways.
3,738,810
Our 0.0% Lounge in Terminal 5 Heathrow reached 3,738,810 passengers
16,281,623
Our Easyjet digital takeover in summer 2022 reached 16,281,623 passengers
Less is more luxury, brands with purpose
Bringing a more sustainable lens to brands and gifting as we consider environmental impact
As Diageo moves towards its 2030 ESG ambition, Global Travel is working to ensure we evolve to be as sustainable as possible supporting consumers making more considered purchases as they travel. Part of this is reducing weight and excess packaging.
In Global Travel we are removing the cardboard carton across a range of our scotches, underlining our belief that less can and is more, when you have rare, mature crafted liquids. Focusing minds on the liquid – not the box it comes in. Packaging is important in any brand, but not the hero. No superfluous waste.
Packaging
New lightwieght carry bag facts:
74 %
Carbon Emission improvement of 74% from carton
0.02 kg
0.02kg of CO₂e
100 %
Made from 100% recycled post-consumer polyester
Scotch portfolio
What’s Your Whisky?
The digital tool bringing to life the depth and flavours of Scotch within our unrivalled portfolio
Scotch can be a spirit which feels mysterious between the many flavours, malts and blended variations and the different parts of Scotland and maturation processes affecting how it lands on the palate.
This being the case, Global Travel has a digital tool for customer’s to help consumers to find the scotch which might best suit them. Using AI it asks consumers a series of quick questions around flavour to understand what type of scotch; smokey or sweet, fruity or spicy might suit them. It can then go on to make recommendations of brands based on your profile.
- 6 flavour profiles
- Available in 21 markets and 16 languages
- Flavour and brand recommendations on completion
- Powered by artificial intelligence, FlavorPrint technology
- Flexible for in store and online interaction
Malts and more
Bringing our malts to life showcasing the individuality and choice within our varied Scotch portfolio
For many travellers a single malt is the perfect gift. Through a mixture of malt innovations and limited editions travel retail breathes an energy, accessibility and community to the world of single malts.
Examples of malts which have found a vibrant home and various adaptations in travel retail are Talisker, The Singleton and Mortlach.
Each with a unique appeal. Global Travel created Talisker Surge – matured in oak bourbon barrels and exclusive to travel retail, it champions Singleton, a sweeter, accessible malt and each year brings an exclusive limited edition series to life – like the Elusive Expressions range.
Search and apply
Opportunities in Global Travel
Working across brands, regions, and channels, our Global Travel teams, are some of the best and most innovative retail people in the beverage industry.