FITUR: SHOPPING MAKES TOURISM GO ‘ROUND
Dining outdoors at Las Rozas Village, Madrid: The Village, a chic outlet
shopping, is a favorite with both local and foreign tourists
by Jack Wright
Just so you know: FITUR, THE INTERNATIONAL TOURISM TRADE FAIR, is celebrating its 38th staging from 17 to 21 January 2018. Why not visit?
Fitur
IFEMA Feria de Madrid
Avenida Partenón, 5, 28042 Madrid, Spain
FITUR is a global meeting point for tourism professionals and the leading trade fair for inbound and outbound Latin American markets. In 2017 FITUR broke its own record of participation with 9,893 exhibiting companies from 165 countries/regions, 135,858 trade participants and 107,213 visitors from the general public. There was a notable increase of 18.8% in international trade visitors vis-à-vis the previous year.
The 7,452 journalist turnout shows the importance of FITUR on the international circuit of tourism sector events.
The FITUR categories are:
Fitur B2B Health, Tech, Gay-LGBT, Festivals, Investour, Know-How & Export, and Shopping
FITUR AND TOURISM SHOPPING
FITUR Shopping has become the first international reference event for the promotion of tourism shopping. FITUR 2018 features a program of conferences and lectures that disseminate information on the success factors of the shopping tourism industry.
Shopping tourism is the key to destination marketing.
Shopping tourism magic numbers:
•50,000 million euros is the European tax-free volume spent by non-EU tourists
•125,000 million euros is the European volume of shopping
•217,000 million euros is the worldwide volume of shopping
“One of the most widely used tools in the promotion of destinations” is how Shopping Tourism was described at the opening of the second Shopping Tourism Conference organized by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) on the occasion of the Spanish Tourism Fair (FITUR) in 2016.
Shopping Tourism “is a highly relevant component for travelers when choosing and preparing their trip,” says Yolanda Perdomo, Director of the Affiliate Members Programme at UNWTO.
Jörn Gieschen, Researcher at the Instituto de Empresa (IE) and the MasterCard Observatory on Premium Markets and Prestige Products, noted that “58% of business travelers add a day or even a weekend [of leisure] to their business trip.” This is the so-called ‘Bleisure’.
Maria José Pérez, from ‘Madrid 7 stars’, an initiative that engages 300 brands, commented that 80% of Chinese tourists who travel to Madrid position shopping as a major motivation.
Mayor of Madrid Manuela Carmena, who presented the Gastrofestival 2018 programming, shown here at a Gastrofestival stand. Madrid’s Gastrofestival is a feature of Mastercard’s “Priceless City”
Eva Ruiz Cendon, Director of Marketing at Mastercard, shared the company’s Priceless Cities Program that engages cities such as Madrid and New York. The initiative facilitates leisure activities in relevant destinations in cooperation with brands and shops.
One of the most awaited interventions of the 2nd Conference on Shopping Tourism was Michel Durrieu, Director of Tourism at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development in France, who introduced the issue of sustainability linked to shopping tourism, mentioning a recent innovation: the digital certificate.
Speaking about the most visited city in the world, Paris, Durrieu added that shopping and gastronomy are major criteria to decide on destinations, and therefore should be included in any tourism strategy. Diversity, price and quality, opening hours, customer orientation in shops, handicrafts and souvenirs quality were mentioned by the Director of Tourism in France as key aspects to advance in shopping tourism.
Ángela Castaño, Head, Tourism Product Area, Turespaña, Hugo Rovira, General Director, NH Hotel Group, Luciano Ochoa, General Manager, Innova Tax Free and Elena Foguet, Business Director, Value Retail were among the participants during the conference.
Additional information: UNWTO Shopping Tourism
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Images
Featured image/jacilluch, CC BY-SA2.0
Mayor Carmena/Diario de Madrid, CC BY4.0
