US travel agents explore Malaga

22 May 2014

About twelve US travel agencies, specializing in luxury markets will tour the province of Málaga this week. They will visit Ronda and Marbella to learn about their luxury shopping and cultural offerings. This familiarization tour is organized by the Board of Tourism of the Junta de Andalucía in cooperation with the Spanish Tourism Office in New York. They will also travel to other areas of Spain, like Madrid and Sevilla. While in the province of Málaga, they will learn about the cultural offering of Ronda and the shopping opportunities in Marbella and Puerto Banús. Airport Transfers will be provided to the agents.

Elias Bendodo, President of the Costa del Sol Board of Tourism, spoke about the importance of promoting the luxury tourism segment of the province because of the repercussion that it has in the destination’s profitability potential. Regarding this issue, he pointed out that the USA tourist is among those who spend the most money when they travel, given that the average budget for a trip is over 2000 euros. Their daily expenses averaged 167 euros in 2013. In terms of cash transactions, many transfer their money into euros when in Marbella, creating further business.

This promotional event, organized in collaboration with Meliá Hotels and Air Europe, will bring North American businesses such as Altour, Tzell Travel Group, Alpha Travel, Gate 1 Travel, Picasso Travel, Creative Travel or Herricks Travel to the province.

Last year, Spain received just over 1 million tourists from the United States, who normally prefer to travel within the States. In fact, only 30% of US citizens have a passport. Among those with a passport, 90 million of them, 34% of those who traveled during the first six months of 2013 went to Mexico and 18% chose a European destination. The third choice was Canada, with a 16% market share.