McArthurGlen Group is opening a new Designer Outlet in Canada in Spring 2015, the group’s first unit outside Europe. The Vancouver Airport Designer Outlet, built in partnership with the city’s airport authorities, is located on the train line that links the airport to the city center. “This is an important challenge because we have to bring a European established model into a mature market as the North-American one”, said Roberto Meneghesso, country manager, Italy and regional operation director Southern Europe at McArthurGlen Group.
The opening is consistent with the McArthurGlen Group’s international expansion plan which includes new units in Spain, Germany, France and Turkey. In addition, Vancouver is experiencing an increasing wave of Asian tourists, which is the focus of the group’s investment since the crisis of the Russian market.
On Wednesday in Milan, Meneghesso said that in 2014, the five Italian designer outlets, located in Serravalle (Milan), Noventa (Venice), Barberino (Florence), Castel Romano (Rome)and La Reggia (Naples), performed solidly, drawing 20 million consumers in their stores (up 10 percent compared with the previous year). Asian visitors grew 40 percent, representing 25 percent of total tax-free sales, while tourists from the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Kazakistan accounted for 45 percent of total tax-free sales. Revenues derived from shoppers outside the European Union totaled around 200 million euros, or $248.7 million at current exchange, enhanced by the group’s representative offices in China, South Korea, the Russian Federation, Brazil and Southeast Asia, and more then 100 partnership with local, regional and global tourism agencies.