Maria Eugenia Girón had a face to face interview with Gildo Seisdedos. Don't miss it:

MEG: Relationship between urban travellers and the luxury industry

GS: The consumption of luxury is a highly urban thing. According to the study “Altagamma 2013”, more than 85% of luxury good personal consumption in US takes place in New York; London capitalizes 75% of the British market and Paris signifies more than 70% of the French one.
Additionally, the urban explorer profile is noted for a medium-high level of education and purchasing power that makes them largely resemble the profile of luxury consumer. They are regular international travellers with an active lifestyle; they are regular users of digital media and social networks. A great variety of travel and lodging options, the high urban safety levels, along with the growing segmentation of urban leisure and entertainment options could be considered as some of the reasons for this trend. 

MEG: What makes a destination a luxury or premium one?

GS: One of the main characteristics of this study is that there are different city typologies in the luxury or premium sectors.
The vectors that affect the attractiveness of an urban destination could be structured from two different points of view, which results in a matrix.
First, we can talk about the hard variables, in which the leisure consumption is associated with the purchase of tangible goods (mostly restaurants and shopping). Then we have the soft variables, in which the leisure consumption is associated with intangible services, such as nightlife and going to museums, shows or concerts.
The second dimension is linked to the either global or local nature of the variable. Thus, in the analysis we can see variables for the attractiveness of an urban destination that have a strong local nature, such as traditional festivities, popular events and traditional markets, and artisan shops. These variables are endowed with more authenticity and a unique character over other ones -referred to as global- in which the comparison among destinations is based on the Price more tan on the offer itself (Shopping in shopping centres would be an example of a global variable).
Combining both axes, we would have the following matrix for urban attractiveness variables, including an example for each category.

A destination may focus its strengths on one or several of these quadrants. This will lead to different typologies related to leisure consumption, as it is shown in the following table.

The authentic primitives are those destinations where hard local factors prevail: they are perceived as authentic destinations, albeit low-sophisticated ones, where the experience has to do with watching and knowing a different lifestyle. La Habana could be an example of this typology.
The global characters imply an additional degree of sophistication, due to local factors focused on intangible services, and they even become important at a global level. Rio de Janeiro and Lima are destination that fit this profile.
The urban commodities tend to be urban centres with an extensive leisure and commercial offer but they lack -due to immaturity (Dubai) or to excessive maturity (Las Vegas) – of a unique nature that can be found in other destinations. They are presented as local centres connecting to global leisure consumption but they do not produce.
The cultural hubs are cities where soft global factors prevail. They set trends and they are recognised as trendsetters on a global scale. There are specialized or “niche” cultural hubs, such as Amsterdam and Berlin, and global cultural hubs like New York or London.
Applying this matrix to a destination allows us to obtain the DNA of its attractiveness for urban explorers based on the way these four typologies combine in each and every case.
At the same time, the profile of a city varies depending on the different target audiences, highlighting the visitor’s nationality as a factor that plays a decisive role in this variation and it has been taken into consideration throughout the developed qualitative research.

MEG: What defines the attractiveness of a city for Premium purchases?

GS: Generally speaking, we can say that urban explorers value both the hard and the soft elements since they focus on these three factors (what we have called the three C’s in Spanish) of urban attractiveness: culture (soft) and shopping and eating (hard factors). Those are the three C’s (in Spanish: cultura, comprar and comer) of urban attractiveness.
Nightlife and sports (both practicing sports and sport events) do not seem to be factors that are specially valued by urban explorers, a fact that reinforces the theory that they have those necessities already covered and they do not look for them when they visit other.
But if we go into detail, once again the answer is not a unanimous one and the urban explorers appear as a segmented category based on the way each one of them perceives the attractiveness of a city.
Thus, the variety in leisure options of urban destinations sets different profiles for urban explorers according to their interests, motivations and personal necessities when they decide to travel to a destination.

The genuineness seeker plans their urban travels looking for values and flavours which are authentic elements from that place, its traditions and customs, whatever gives that place its urban identity. This type of urban explorer enjoys walking through traditional food and craft markets, where the locals do their shopping; they attend to local folklore festivals; they choose to eat where locals go to eat and they avoid to the extent possible the traditional touristic routes, so that they can explore the city from within and through the local residents of the city.     
The experience collector specially values the possibility of living great singular experiences offered by the leisure and entertainment industry all over the world. They are usually restless and curious people with many different interests that enjoy life immensely as well as their free time.
The brand-conscious consumer feels attracted to the large commercial offer concentrated in the cities, the easiness to find their favourite fashion brands, getting to know new formats of both the products and the stores, and also enjoying the advantages in price, service, and special offers provided by some urban destinations.
The leisure gourmet is a segment of urban explorers who look for the most special and exquisite in each category of urban leisure. They are great connoisseurs of the best urban destinations. They go to places where they are sure they will have a high-level personalised service and high-quality products.  

Maria Eugenia Girón also sat with Antonio López de Ávila and he shared very interesting impressions:

MEG: What is the relationship between urban travellers and the luxury industry like?

ALA: The urban traveller is mainly interested in culture, gastronomy and shopping, as well as in the cities where there is usually a wider range of luxury and premium products and services.
The high-income urban tourist looks for unique gastronomic experiences, which they usually find in the restaurants with great chefs, private tours to museums, personalised-attention shopping, and so on. They are tourists that look for unique and unforgettable experiences when they travel.

MEG: What makes a destination a luxury or premium one?

ALA: A carefully selected range of unique experiences which allows the tourist to turn their trip into something exclusive. Personalised accommodation, transportation, products and services; a high-quality cuisine, top-level cultural events… Everything needs to be designed and ready to meet the highest demands.  

MEG: What defines the attractiveness of a city for Premium purchases?

ALA: If we think of the main Premium-shopping destination, most of us will say Paris, but there is so much more about the French capital. It is a unique city with a wide range of cultural activities, luxury hotels and an internationally renowned cuisine. All these factors define the attractiveness of this French city.
The VIII Global Report on Shopping Tourism, presented a few days ago by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), points out that tourists see their shopping abroad as “a treasure that is part of the magic of the trip”.

This happens mainly in the emerging source markets, such as Brazil and China. The Chinese tourists tend to spend 22% of their trip budget in luxury-product shopping, making Europe a sophisticated and refined destination with a large variety of original products.

In Spain, Madrid and Barcelona are the son main Premium-shopping destination. They are both working to design exclusive packs that complement and enrich the Premium-shopping offer with other Premium experiences that make them even more attractive.