David has over 20 years’ airport travel retail experience. After qualifying as a chartered accountant, his innate entrepreneurial spirit lured him into a fledgling travel retail business called Tigers Eye.
He played a leading role in growing the business from a marginally profitable chain of four outlets to its current position as the destination retail market leader in Southern Africa with 65 outlets in Southern Africa and a further 12 in the Caribbean.

Being part of Tourvest, a multi channelled integrated tourism group, David has exposure to most aspects of tourism, however his core experience is destination retail. Whilst many retailers talk about “sense of place”, he believes the real challenge is to create retail experiences that hold “pride of place”!

He is a firm believer in trying to break the step and repeat “cookie cutter” approach to retail. Tourvest’s award winning “Out of Africa” destination outlets are clear examples of how history, imagination, focus and retail passion can differentiate airport malls, adding interest and value to the overall customer experience and significant revenue to airport operators.