Porto is a paradise for shoppers. Amsterdam is for the hip and trendy. In Lithuania, one can find everything. These are just a few of the odes to shopping that tourism marketers have posted on VisitEurope.com, hoping to lure travellers to their own country and their shops.
Travel is a €298.3 billion (£232.3 billion) business in Europe, according to the latest figures from the World Tourism Organization (Tourism Highlights 2007, www.UNWTO.org).
Of the 846 million international arrivals recorded worldwide in 2006, more than half were in Europe, and travellers each spent an average of €650 (£505) while abroad.
Top spenders among the world’s travellers come from Germany, the USA, the UK, France, Japan, China, Italy, Canada, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Korea.
As VisitEurope.com will tell you, shopping is one of the favourite activities for both male and female travellers. Whether it’s a Danish family taking its first trip to the French Riviera, a German businesswoman flying to a conference in Poland or four Austrian friends driving to Italy for a weekend break, shopping occurs on travel—be it planned or on impulse. But while the urge to buy something—a gift for the kids at home, a new pair of nylons, a good bottle of wine—is a tough one to resist, shopping centres can no longer rely on the straight offering of shops to attract travellers.
Given the still increasing popularity of online shopping, particularly in the UK which accounted for 42 percent of Western European online sales in 2006 (eMarketer report), the easing of cross-border business across the continent, as well as the expansion and spread of low-cost carriers in the region, the actual goods purchasing part of a visit is less and less of an exotic experience.
How different can a Zara store in Warsaw be from one in London? Not different enough to battle traffic on the highway or sit on a plane for a few hours to get to it.
Look closely at any European shopping centre’s retailer directory and you’ll recognise the majority of the shops, which you probably have in your own market and even at your centre.
The true differentiating factors between shopping centres as tourism destinations are in the amenities, customer care, perks and entertainment offers that complement a shopping trip, not only for the travellers themselves but also for everyone else who plays a vital role in getting shoppers to your centre—from tour operators and airlines to hotels and the tourism media. The first place to make your pitch will likely be on the Web, where shoppers research and book holidays.
Buchanan Galleries (BuchanaGalleries.co.uk) in Glasgow, Scotland, dedicates a significant portion of its Website to travellers, offering a run-down of its favourite addresses—places to stay, eat, drink and shop. The site also lists major local events as well as suggestions of Great Days Out, whether they are Indulgent, Cultural, Lazy or simply a Big Night Out.
Each of these day-long plans incorporates elements that represent the best that Buchanan Galleries has to offer—the services of a style advisor and personal shopper, gift cards that can be picked up at the information desk, leisurely lunches at Amarone restaurant, massages at the Clarins Spa in John Lewis department store.
In essence, the Buchanan Galleries site acts as a mini tourism hub, with links to the Glasgow City Council’s visitor guide, the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, See Glasgow and The List entertainment magazine’s Website.
The marketers of Covent Garden have come up with an online tool of their own for potential guests who wish to party, as well as shop, in London.
CoventGardenLife.com/partyplanner is a free service that lists Covent Garden’s 11 party venues and enables visitors to plan and book groups for afternoon teas, Christmas parties, and even hen and stag nights.
The site provides the venues’ menu prices as well as other details such as closing times, whether or not dancing is offered, and happy hour schedules.
Guests can book their party online, as well as local accommodation, not to mention sign up to subscribe to the Covent Garden newsletter.
Across the pond, Cherry Creek Shopping Center in Colorado, USA, worked the My Mall tool into its Website. My Mall enables customers to plan their next shopping trip to Cherry Creek by organising sales information, coupons, notes on items to buy and other useful tidbits into an efficient list that shoppers can take with them.
Canada’s Polo Park Shopping Centre recently used the Web to encourage out-of-town shoppers to enjoy some quick Suite Diva Indulgences.
Polo Park partnered with Clarion Hotel and Urban Oasis Mineral Spa to offer one-night stays for groups of four in an executive suite.
The packages included four luxury manicures, four O’lotions, make-up touch-ups at the spa, chocolates from Bernard Callebaut, four Cosmopolitan Martinis to toast their arrival, four fashion magazines, access to the mineral and hydrotherapy bath and aroma steam room, and a one-hour consultation with a Polo Park retailer.
The packages were priced at $130 per person (€82 or £64), based on quad occupancy, which was a clever way to get more people to sign up for the getaway and probably a more effective strategy than simply asking shoppers to forward the offer to their friends.
When you promise a unique (and positive) experience, you need to be ready to deliver once guests arrive at your centre, beginning with one-on-one communication. And that’s exactly what Dawn Simon strives to do.
Simon knows all about the challenges of effective communication. As the senior markeing manager for Queens Center in New York, Simon works in a borough where 150 different languages are spoken. In fact, National Geographic recently cited Queens as among the most ethnically and culturally diverse boroughs in the world.
For Queens Center, communication with people of different backgrounds is a daily concern and an opportunity to deliver great customer care.
The centre developed a Foreign Language Assistance Programme to help visitors who have difficulties communicating in English, be they local residents enjoying a day of shopping, tourists or business travellers.
"Shoppers have to feel comfortable communicating in order for us to provide the best service and a great experience.
We can offer assistance in 20 different languages," Simon said. "Shoppers can visit guest services, identify the language they speak and we will find a staff member who can communicate with them. If that doesn’t work, we’ll connect them with one of our 50 retailers who participate in the programme."
Queens Center promotes its Foreign Language Assistance Programme mainly through its Website, and Simon noted that the center had been fortunate enough to receive a lot of press, particularly during the December holiday season.
Customer service representatives are also actively promoting the scheme, which helps to further raise awareness beyond what word-of-mouth promotion has already achieved.
Like Queens Center, Cherry Creek Shopping Center relies on its staff and retail employees to assist shoppers in more than 27 languages. The centre also provides store directories and size charts printed in French, German, Japanese and Spanish, as well as English.
The UK’s MetroCentre is also conscious of the need to communicate with tourists in their own language. To attract visitors, MetroCentre placed an advertisement in the NewcastleGateshead Initiative’s destination guide distributed in Norway in 2007.
"It was a general advert outlining that MetroCentre is the largest shopping Centre in Europe, with over 300 shops to choose from. As you are probably aware, it is expensive to shop in Norway so the UK is a popular shopping destination," noted Denise McClintock, marketing coordinator, adding that the centre is currently preparing new creative for this year’s guide.
"We have a Norwegian section on our website and are looking to extend this possibly with a micro-site on MetroCentre's Website in the future."
The NewcastleGateshead Initiative’s Website also features a shopping section that presents MetroCentre as its primary pitch. Click on the shopping tab and you’ll get a listing of various categories, including shopping centres such as MetroCentre, Eldon Square, Eldon Garden, Monument Mall and Royal Quays.
According to Simon, Queens Center now hosts the new Queens Visitor Center, which provides information for visitors, travel planners or anyone who is interested in knowing what’s happening in the Borough of Queens.
Materials include visitor guides, newsletters, a business directory, neighborhood histories, demographic data, maps and community information.
The Visitor Center was developed as a partnership between the Queens Economic Development Corporation, the Office of Queens Borough president, Helen M. Marshall, and mall owner Macerich.
Visitor Center greeters representing 14 Queens-based not-for-profit organisations are on hand to answer questions and assist shoppers. At designated times and dates, the greeters also offer informal workshops on their own organisations—from the Louis Armstrong House Museum to Queens Botanica Garden to the Queens Museum of Art.
Back in the Europe, Lakeside Shopping Centre in West Thurrocks, UK, presents itself as the ideal destination for group travel and coach parties year-round.
Located just off the M25 motorway, Lakeside makes it easy for tour operators to get into the habit of bringing their guests around to shop, eat and relax.
Lakeside says coach drivers just need to follow the AA road signs and they will be guided straight into Car Park 8, where there is enough free parking available to accommodate more than 250 coaches.
The motor coach parking is located next to anchor Debenhams, so passengers can step off the coach and walk straight into the centre.
Besides easily accessible parking, another concern that tourists often have on their mind is food. That’s why Union Station in America’s capital of Washington, DC, has a food voucher programme entitling groups of 20 or more visitors to enjoy discounts at 14 breakfast joints and more than 30 lunch and dinner eateries.
The vouchers are paid for and delivered in advance of the group’s arrival at the mall, and onsite parking arrangements can also be made.
Like food stops, hunting for souvenirs may not be the sole purpose of tourist visits to shopping centres, but they are still an important part of the experience.
Silesia City Center in Poland heavily promotes local souvenirs with a special glass case displaying the Silesia Collection, an assortment of accessories and gadgets—miniature mining carts, unique glass-metal beer mugs, postcards, books by famous Silesia authors and more.
The souvenirs come packaged in a wooden box or branded bag, with motifs of Silesia and its past. The centre even lists items that would be appealing to men, like miner’s lamp-shaped decanter or a tie clasp with head frame. There are also suggestions of small gifts and presents for children.
"Silesia City Center is very pleased with the popularity of these rare items, especially among tourists," the centre’s marketers said. Their pitch to shoppers: "Don’t leave Silesia without a piece of history in your suitcase."
Here are a few more ideas to help your centre attract tourism business:
• Develop an incentive programme for tour operators, as America’s Chelsea Premium Outlets has done.
With Chelsea (www.PremiumOutlets.com/traveltrade), travel agencies, tour operators or receptive operators can earn up to €3,250 for their referrals.
Each quarter, Chelsea awards €650 to the partner who refers the most clients, and it also holds a draw for one company to win approximately €160.
• Use alternative media vehicles to reach shoppers abroad, like in-flight magazines and TV advertising, highway radio, as well as outdoor advertising in airports, conference centres, sporting venues and on mobile vehicles.
• Make use of online social networks to get people talking about your centre. Just look at what’s already on the Web.
An American shopper might have never heard of Germany’s Centro Oberhausen before she stumbled upon one of the 28 videos dedicated to the centre on YouTube.
A quick search on the popular site will turn up 1,140 videos for the Mall of America, 613 for Canada’s West Edmonton Mall, 146 or Bullring in Birmingham, 53 for Akmerkez in Istanbul and many other centre videos.
Why not produce one to post on the site?
If you play your cards right, out-of-town customers, overseas tourists and business travellers might enjoy their experience so much that they’ll feel compelled to write their own odes to your shopping centre.

Customer Care

Shuttle & Taxi
Every Friday and Saturday, a shuttle transports shoppers between Vienna’s Opera House stop and McArthurGlen Designer Outlet in Parndorf. The 30-minute trip costs travellers €5 (return fare). The centre also has a deal with Tonis Taxi, which will pick up shoppers from the Parndorf train station. The cost is just €1.70 per person. For those who would rather drive themselves, the centre’s Website offers directions from Vienna, Graz and Linz, as well as from Hungary and Slovakia. Customers can figure out their own custom route via GeoLook.at.

The PC Guide to Int’l Travel
European travellers can avoid getting into sticky situations with some help from Brussels Airport.
With financial backing from the European Commission’s Socrates-Lingua department and Fortis Bank & Insurance, Brussels Airport produced 35 clips explaining the Do’s & Don'ts in the different countries of Europe, as well as audio programmes in 20 languages. These can all be accessed on www.FastenSeatbelts.eu.
The cartoon is airing at Brussels Airport, on board Thomas Cook Airlines’ planes and, the airport hopes, soon on television and other airlines.

Storage Facilities
The Mall of the Emirates in Dubai offers a free luggage storage room for shoppers to use. Other tourist-friendly amenities include mobile phone recharging and four currency exchange locations open until midnight.
Meanwhile, the UK’s MetroCentre introduced new shopping lockers this past January. They are on the first floor of the Public Transport Interchange, and the service allows shoppers to create their own PIN number for added security.
The cost is £1 per hour or £3 for a full day.

Currency Conversion
You may offer the best shopping packages in town, but the prices you quote might mean little to travellers living halfway across the globe. A simple link from your Website to a free online currency conversion site like XE.com can help. And don’t forget the size conversion charts.