Spain’s successful image as a tourist destination is about to move forward with a new approach: shopping tourism.
According to the WTO, Spain is expecting to welcome 70 million travelers, thus becoming one of the main tourist destinations worldwide. The effect of tourism on the economy is quite positive, although there is still a serious issue: seasonality.
This is one of the main challenges exposed during the Summit Shopping Tourism & Economy, celebrated in our country. The massive arrival of travelers during summer compared to its shortage during the rest of the year evidences the lack of sophistication of the tourist offer.
Shopping tourism is the perfect solution for this sun and beach dependency. Both Barcelona and Madrid should go for this new travel approach, following the example of some other European capitals, like London, Milan and Paris.
Important fashion brands, luxury hotels and international businesses have focused on Spain. What is missing is to fasten the administrative steps to get visas, improve the proposals and enhance the facilities to make Spain become the main shopping destination.
Taking into account that the retail industry is breaking records, logistics is at its most and main capitals are highly valued, the path leads directly to success.
Purpose: Shopping destination
The report named ‘The new era of travel retail’ performed by EY Consultancy shows that the average consumption of tourists per night in our territory is 47% lower than in the bordering countries.
An international tourist spends an average of 91.99€ in Germany, 69.22€ in the United Kingdom, 65.64€ in Italy and 61.30€ in France, whereas the average expenditure in Spain does not exceed 38.32€ per capita.
Regardless of the attractive commercial, cultural and accommodation offer of the two largest Spanish capitals, in fact Barcelona and Madrid are the sixth and fifteenth cities of Europe in tourist expenditure, respectively.
Although nowadays, just 3.2% of the European shopping ‘tax-free’ market, EY announces an upcoming radical change. The transformation will trigger consumption up to 5000 million of Euros for the following four years, if the market potential is fully stretched.
MAXIMUM FIGURES
The main participants of the retail industry have already taken steps after seeing the recovery of consumption, showing figures higher than before the crisis.
Commercial real estate investments have reached 2588 million Euros during the first nine months of the year, showing a 42 % increase compared to the three first quarters in 2014.
According to JLL Consultancy, investments will exceed 3000 million Euros at the end of this period. For now, there have been 46 transactions involving a total of 486 real estate assets, the main characters being the shopping centers (52% of the transactions), followed by shops (23%) and sale & leaseback (15%).
The main investors on the retail industry are Spanish (33%), followed by Americans (24%) and German (10%). The rest (33%) is spread among French, Brazilian, Israeli, Mexican and British investors.
UPCOMING CHALLENGES
The current facilities allow huge possibilities of improvement, especially considering it is a well-connected area, thanks to the international airports, high speed trains and ports dealing with cruise tourism, like Barcelona’s port.
Spain has been consolidated as the second international tourist destination considering revenues from tourism. That is why the Spanish aim now should be working on shopping tourism even before of the arrival of tourists. Moreover, it is important to assist them once they arrive and fidelize them after their departure.
Taking into account that travelers come from far away destinations and that the non-UN tourists spend four times more than locals, it is important to have a good strategy.
Within the public sector, an option may be to fasten the process to get visas, as well as the reimbursement of VAT. As regards the private sector, it is possible to have a global commercial offer in the commuting areas, like airports and most attractive spots.
The improvement of the current holiday offer should have one target: shopping tourism.
