Luxury shopping tourism by international tourists in Spain has experienced a growth of 164% compared to pre-pandemic data. Thus, Spain is positioned as the third European market in terms of share of this market, surpassing Germany and only behind France and Italy.
According to the report "The Elite Tourist" prepared by the company specializing in tax-free shopping Global Blue for Círculo Fortuny, the luxury sector has represented in the last twelve months half of the total spending of shopping tourism in Spain.
Despite the growth in spending in the luxury segment, Spain is still behind the French and Italian markets, where this spending represents 75% of the total spending on purchases.
These two countries are the leading leaders in total tax-free shopping spending in the European Union, so if our country concentrates 16%, France and Italy together account for 27% of the total share.
The nationalities of the main issuing markets of tourists who spend the most in Spain has evolved after the Covid-19 pandemic, if in 2019 tourists from China accounted for 29% of total spending, now they have decreased to 13%.
Latin Americans and Americans lead the spending
Compared to this decrease, the purchasing tourists from Latin America, which currently account for 30% of spending, those from the U.S., which go from accounting for 7% of spending before the pandemic to the current 14%, and those from the Gulf countries, which rise to 6% from the previous 4%.
Within all the tax-free expenses accounted for in the report, that destined for luxury purchases accounts for 50% of the total, with a growth of 164% compared to the data before the pandemic.
For its part, the percentage of spending on exclusive purchases reaches 5% of the total, with a growth of 106% since before the pandemic; while 'premium' spending amounts to 21% of the total, with a growth of 110%, and spending on 'lifestyle' (which would include the large fashion chains) accounts for 24% of total spending, with an increase of 142%.
By buyer profile, the report indicates that 20% of spending comes from high-end purchasing tourists, who spend more than 20,000 euros on average, which have grown by 157% since before the pandemic.
Tourists who spend up to 20,000 euros per trip
While tourists with an average spending of between 3,000 and 20,000 euros represent 42% of total spending after growing 150% and tourists with an average spending of less than 3,000 euros, account for 38% of spending after having increased their spending by 121% since before the pandemic.
By cities, Madrid has become the second city in Europe that has most recovered spending on tax free when compared to the pre-pandemic period by growing 163% in this time, only surpassed by Lisbon, with a growth of 177%.
The report points out that this spending in Madrid has been driven by phenomena such as the rise of business schools and the opening of five-star hotels. Barcelona, on the other hand, appears in fifth position with an increase of 116%.
In the comparison in spending on shopping tourism, the weight of the luxury tourist in purchases is still higher in Barcelona, with 44%, compared to 42% in Madrid. Despite this, the high-end buyer spends more in the capital (2,600 euros) than in the city of Barcelona (2,400 euros).