The Government of Spain has presented its '2015 Shopping Tourism Plan'. This is the first time that such a document has been jointly drafted by the Ministries of Industry, Energy and Tourism; Economic Affairs and Competition; the Treasury and Public Administration Services; and Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. Additional support was provided by the regional governments and the private sector.
The goal is to increase the return obtained from the tourism sector and domestic trade, and to ensure these efforts have a positive effect on increased wealth and job creation.
The Plan, which will be given public funding of 2.8 million euros, was presented on Tuesday by the State Secretaries for Tourism and Trade, Isabel Borrego and Jaime García-Legaz, respectively, at an event that was also attended by the Director-General of Turespaña, Marta Blanco, and the Director-General for Domestic Trade, Carmen Cárdeno. The budget allocated will be earmarked for actions aimed at both stimulating and increasing demand in emitting tourist markets and adapting the commercial offer in Spain to the needs of international tourists. The afore-mentioned amount will be added to the budget allocated by the various public and private entities with which joint efforts will be made to develop the plan, which will also go on to mobilise additional resources.
Spain receives the third-highest number of inbound tourists in the world. 60.6 million non-resident travellers visited Spain in 2013, a figure that has grown by 7.4% so far this year. In terms of tourist spending, Spain is second only to the United States and the latest annual figures put this indicator at 59.08 billion euros. As is the case for the actual number of inbound tourists, this figure has posted growth in the first nine months of 2014 (up 7.3%).
However, the Government of Spain is targeting this plan at tourists with stronger purchasing power and believes the shopping market has the greatest potential to help improve the quality and competitiveness of this sector.
Tourism and trade are important driving forces behind economic development in Spain and mutually enhance one another. Hence, the government has decided to focus on shopping tourism in order to generate increased motivational, geographic and seasonal diversification of demand but, above all, to ensure this segment can significantly increase expenditure at the destination, thereby increasing the return from this industry.
In fact, the focus has been placed on those markets of most importance and potential for Spain within this segment. Besides Russia and the United States, these are China, Japan, Mexico and Brazil. In addition and due to their importance in the luxury segment (albeit with a relatively lower volume), the Gulf countries should also be considered in this regard. In these markets (considered as emerging markets), the government's strategy will be to use shopping tourism as a tool to position Spain as a tourist destination.
However, a different approach will be adopted when working with the more mature markets in terms of tourism in Spain, where the objective will be to incorporate shopping tourism as part of their stay in the country. These distinct strategies will translate into actions implemented using promotional tools managed by the Spanish Tourism Institute (Turespaña) in partnership with the destinations and the private sector.
Under this promotional activity, Turespaña will carry out specific "Shopping in Spain" communication campaigns in the afore-mentioned emitting markets and will prioritise the shopping factor in the advertising campaign scheduled for 2015.
Moreover, a working group made up of all the stakeholders involved in the activities will be set up under this dynamic plan to follow up on the results.
Measures included in the plan
The 2015 Tourism Plan consists of 18 measures in three main areas: actions aimed at increasing recognition and improving Spain's profile; actions aimed at facilitating converting an interest in travelling to Spain to actual travel and actions regarding the tourism offer.
In terms of the first area, the goal is to harness the attributes of the image already associated with Spain in a positive sense (lifestyle, gastronomy, climate, friendliness) to achieve a competitive position for the country as a destination, a position that will need to be complemented by such attributes as safety, authenticity, guaranteed trading hours, variety and an extensive commercial offer.
To that end, partnerships will be established with stakeholders in the public and private sectors to promote Spain as a shopping destination, improvements will be made to the presence of information about the offer on online platforms, a specific "Shopping in Spain" app. will be designed to cater for the increasingly digitalised tourist, and efforts will be undertaken with international Spanish companies with operations in the emitting markets.
Furthermore and in order to improve commercialisation, the Government of Spain will speed up the issue of visas by implementing the visa outsourcing system in the emitting markets of Eastern Europe and the Asian Pacific, as well as by promoting the issue of multiple entry visas with validity periods of between six months and one year in those countries with a high tourism potential for Spain.
Furthermore, efforts will be made to enhance the promotion of Spain as a tourist destination through the network of Spanish Consulates, as well as the relationship between them and the Spanish Tourist Offices in the main emitting markets with the tourist agencies and operators in each country in order to harmonise requirements and procedures, and speed up relations.
As regards actions on the offer, the strategy presented on Tuesday seeks to discover what the tourists visiting Spain look for, when they look for it and how they look for it. The Government of Spain believes it is essential to ensure their shopping experience in Spain is as pleasurable, easy and safe as possible so as to stimulate an increased number of transactions, the value thereof, repeat visits and recommendations to others.
Hence, partnerships will be established between those responsible for the commercial offer so that the information, the setting, the product, the presentation of the offer, service and payment - among other factors - respond to tourist expectations and do not create unpleasant or unwanted experiences.
Along the same lines, specific partnership actions will be promoted between the trade sector, financial institutions and the payment method systems established in Spain with a view to making it easier for tourists to use those bank cards that are most popular in the emitting markets at commercial establishments in Spain.
Furthermore, and in order to further expedite the management of VAT rebates to non-EU tourists, the Spanish Tax Office is studying the possibility of implementing a telematic tax return validation system such as those already implemented in other Member States. This would speed up the processing of these documents.
Also under this heading, the Spanish State Secretariat of Domestic Trade will announce subsidies in 2015 through the Chamber of Commerce of Spain for the implementation of commercial modernisation projects located in major tourist areas.
Source: www.lamoncloa.gob.es
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