Madrid and Barcelona Challenge Paris and London as Shopping Tourism Centers

Spain is set to surpass France for the first time as a global destination with more tourists. Official forecasts and study services raise the numbers to 84 million visitors with a predominance of the three main traditional markets (UK, Germany and France).

Release time : 2017-10-10 11:21:47

source : http://travelweekly-china.com

(Source: Travel Weekly China)

Spain is set to surpass France for the first time as a global destination with more tourists. Official forecasts and study services raise the numbers to 84 million visitors with a predominance of the three main traditional markets (UK, Germany and France). All of them comprise 52% of the foreign tourists who visit Spain and a vast majority of them come for sun and beach holidays. The shopping tourism however is a growing power.

The latest disaggregated data from 2016 shows that the average expenditure per tourist was 1,028 Euros and that the average daily expenditure was 130 Euros. Those three countries rank even lower. The case of France is especially important. There the average expenditure per trip barely exceeds 600 Euros and the average daily spending is even lower than the rest of the Eurozone countries (85 Euros).

China is the world's largest shopping tourists issuing country. In 2016, only 374,295 Chinese tourists arrived to Spain.

This fact led a group of companies (CaixaBank, Iberia, El Corte Inglés, Samsung and Global Blue) and the Community of Madrid to organize the Summit Shopping Tourism & Economy event, whose third edition will be held on October 3th and 4th . The objective of this contest is to make Madrid a world shopping center to compete against the hegemony of Paris and London. Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the event's Organizing Committee said that the main objective of the event is to deseasonalize tourism and promote the creation of long-term, qualified jobs.

"If the number of tourists coming from outside the EU multiplied by two, tourist spending would grow by 17 billion," he said.

These travelers, unlike those from traditional emitting markets, do not seek sunny destinations and beaches, instead, they feel attracted to other experiences such as the culture, gastronomy or shopping.

It is precisely in this last segment where the Organizing Committee found an