Puerto Banus, the ninth most visited shopping area in Spain
02-01-2017
La Costa del Sol is in fashion for many reasons. The climate is one of them, since Marbella and the surrounding municipalities enjoy more than 300 days of sunshine a year and mild temperatures, about 19 degrees annual average.
Golf is also another attraction in the area, as the Costa del Sol has some of the best golf courses in Andalusia and Spain. Specifically, the best golf course in the national territory, the Valderrama golf course, is located in Sotogrande.
But the latest data suggest that Marbella is also becoming a commercial destination. The report "The new era of travel retail: Impacts and challenges of shopping tourism" done by Ernst and Young reveals that Puerto Banus is among the ten most visited commercial areas in Spain. We must take into account that it competes against the Barrio de Salamanca in Madrid and the Diagonal of Barcelona, among others.
If instead of analyzing the visits we focus on the average spending per visitor, Puerto Banus is in second place in the ranking, only surpassed by the Barrio de Salamanca. Specifically, the average expenditure per inhabitant in tax-free purchases in Puerto Banús is 994 euros, and 357 euros the rest of the city of Marbella.
And is that Puerto Banus has almost fifty international firms, especially in the jewelry and fashion sectors, such as Cartier or Bvlgari. In fact, some of these brands have chosen Puerto Banús as the only point of sale in Spain.
To this we must add that Marbella is consolidated as the second national city in the ranking of the luxury sector, since it has a share of 26% of sales in Spain. It is only surpassed by Barcelona, which has a share of 32%, followed by Madrid (17%), Ibiza (9%) and Mallorca (6%), according to the latest report done by Luxury Spain.
Some of the strongest brands in the luxury sector that have a presence in the city of Marbella (most in Puerto Banus) are Villa Padierna, Ascari, Tom Ford, Jimmy Choo, Luisa Spagnoli and Villebrequin, among others.
