The Italian city of Naples continues to be amongst one of the most visited cities by foreign tourists. One of the main reasons, is due to the shopping experience. This is all confirmed by the most recent data published by Global Blue.
During the first ten months of 2015, tax free shopping registered an increase of 23%, and an average receipt equal to 950 euros. Moreover, this was a 5% increase compared to the same period in 2014.
The data show that millions of non-Europeans choose Naples as the final destination of their trips, and fully crowd the shopping streets of the city. The favorite locations for Naples shopping are “Via Filangieri” and “Via Dei Mille”. These two streets have successfully registered a great volume of spending in the first ten months of 2015 (72% of tax free purchases), which is an increase of 35% year-on-year.
Other streets popular with shoppers are “Via Toledo/Galleria Umberto I” (down by -9%) and “Piazza dei Martiri/ Via Calabritto” (up by 7%), both of them hold the 7% of the tax free market. “Piazza Trento and Trieste” (-2%) and “Via Chiaia/Via Santa Caterina e Chiaia” (-4%) amount for 5% and 4% of tax free purchases.
Contrary to other major Italian cities, which mostly have Chinese tourists on top of their rankings, Naples records Japanese tourists to be the top spender nationality in the Campania region. They represent 22% of the local tax free shopping market during January-October 2015 (+42% compared to the same period in 2014).
This is very surprising, considering the results that have been registered by Global Blue in other Italian major cities (Milan, Rome, Florence and Venice). The findings clearly show that Japanese tourists have a lighter impact on markets that are based on tax free citizens.
The second position is taken by Chinese tourists, with a 20% of total spending (+90% in comparison to 2014).
Furthermore, in line with the national trend, the Naples shopping market has also registered a pleasurable return of American tourists. The Americans, with an increase of +116%, successfully reached the third position. The strength of the dollar to the euro, and the positioning of the Italian brand, which is regarded among the top brands by Americans, have highly contributed to the renovated influx of overseas tourism in the major areas of the peninsula as well as Naples.
Finally, the last place of the top spender nationalities is taken by Russian shoppers. The Russians, like in the rest of the country, have registered a strong decrease in purchases (-41%). They have been penalized by the weakness of the ruble in comparison to the euro.
Many tourists also came from Hong Kong. These visitors registered in October 2015 the highest increase in terms of tax free shopping in Naples – an increase of +145%, and a market share of 4%.