During one Sunday in October, the "Palais des Festivals" was emptied of 250 of its exhibitors who gathered at the Cannes Mandelieu Old Course. For the grand opening of this world luxury market, nearly 140 of them participated in the 20th edition of the Golf tournament organized since its origin by Harry Diehl from the Giebr. Heinemann Company. We got interested in this atypical and smiling man who wonderfully handles discretion and show, user-friendliness and business, courtesy and determination. Let us discover the man and his involvement in the Tax Free Show.

Golf Méditerranée: First, tell us about the origins of this world market: the Tax Free World Exhibition

Harry Diehl: The 1st Tax Free exhibition was organized in 1972 in Amsterdam (Netherlands) with 40 exhibitors and 400 participants. I was first asked be the Co-president of this event with an American so that the East and West hemispheres be represented. I accepted and I stayed on 13 years Co-organizing it with my American friend! The formula is "By the trade, for the trade". Today a Management Committee made up of representatives for exhibitors who represent almost all the greatest brands in the world. The current president is a Dane Mr. Eric Juul-mortensen whose wife Sarah Branquinho is one of the directors of the London airports. It is a fabulous tandem for the success of Tax Free.

G.M: From Amsterdam to Cannes, was it a direct route?

H.D: Not at all, after Amsterdam, we went to London, Copenhagen then Paris. The first edition took place in Monte Carlo which was a great success but became too small. For me, there was only one possible alternative: Cannes, "La Croisette" and its "Palais des Expositions".

G.M: You created Travel Value. What was the intended objective?

H.D.: Following the new 1999 intra Community provisions, we had to adapt our vision of the European market. We created Travel Value which is a privilege to buy after the airports' security control and this even for intra Community trips. We offer our customers the possibility to buy products, except tobacco, after the control at the same price as for duty or tax free. It was a challenge to tackle in order to survive.

G.M: Some figures about Tax Free 2006: sales, number of exhibitors, numbers of visitors, and number of represented countries?

H.D: Tax Free 2006 brought together 400 exhibitors representing 3,000 brands of the whole world. 11,000 participants representing more than 150 country met during the show. The sales figure is 27 billion €.

G.M: For 20 years Tax Free has been in Cannes, weren't you solicited by other venues?

H.D: There is now a very strong competition in particular with Barcelona. They have a tremendous hosting capacity but it is nevertheless Cannes which best meets all our needs. Cannes has many assets but is also the object of criticisms, which is natural, in particular with raised prices in hotels and restaurants. The market dictates prices and I think that we should be vigilant because if it is not controlled, one day that could change.

G.M: Let's speak about golf! How did you bring golf in this luxury universe which is a little bit his?

H.D.: A few years ago, Mr. Bernhard Langer, n°1 German at the time in the pro circuit, wrote to invite me, on behalf of Lufthansa, to a golf tournament as a gift for my 50th birthday. But there was a small concern: I did not play golf! I thus promised Bernhard Langer to get involved in the game and two years later I was at the rendezvous. And it is at this time that I thought that it was necessary to have, as the grand opening of our annual world Tax Free congress, a golf tournament and Cannes.

G.M: How is the tournament set?

H.D: We kept in charge of the whole competition organization on a sports level, green-fees, invitations, players etc. But we need a Co-sponsor to deal with catering and table decoration expenses. There was Lancôme from Paris for ten years then Davidoff for 9 years. We had to put an end to this last partnership following the intervention of the Americans who said to us: "Stop with tobacco, even in a private tournament".

As we did not want to have legal problems, it was preferable to stop sponsoring from tobacco companies. We thus proposed Hugo Boss to become our Co-sponsor of the competition. The 20th Tax Free edition bears the name Gr. Heinemann/Hugo Boss Travel Value Golf Cup and I hope it will be for a long time. (Laughter)

G.M: The prizes are magnificent!

H.D: The prices are fantastic because a lot of congress exhibitors offer their products which are all luxury products! Our prize table is a genuine mini exposition of Tax Free luxury products. I appreciate the generosity of the contributors which makes it possible for each participant to go back with one or more gifts. The tournament is also the occasion to have every player take part in a charitable organization by offering 100 €. The number of participants increases every year and this year there were 138 players, from 27 different countries, distributed between the Cannes Mandelieu Old Course and the Riviera Golf ClubWe collected 13,800 Û and Gebr.Heinemann provided the difference to reach the sum of 15,000 € which will be given to the Linda Hopkins Memorial Community Centre. Two great contributors are participating in this action, Dubai Duty Free and King Power whose president is Chinese.

G.M: You thus continue the adventure in Cannes?

H.D: In twenty years, we had to stop the tournament only once because of rain! For nineteen years we had only sun! I do not regret my choice of Cannes and the Riviera! (Laughter)