Westfield London gears up for Golden Week
The Westfield London shopping centre in Shepherds Bush is expecting strong Chinese tourist numbers during Golden Week this week.
The seven-day national holiday in China, which began on 1 October, sees 1.3 billion people get a week off work all at the same time and London is key destination for those holidaying abroad during the week.
The shopping centre said the Chinese tourist market accounted for 35% of sales in its luxury quarter The Village last October, which was an increase of 19% on the previous year. In 2013 (January-August) Westfield London has experienced a 9% increase in Chinese tourist spend with 9% rise in fashion sales and 29% growth in sport and leisure equipment sales.
Myf Ryan, Westfield marketing firector – UK & Europe, said: “Westfield’s strategy to create iconic centres in iconic cities with a strong mix of fashion, food, dining, leisure and entertainment has ensured our centres have become major tourist destinations.
“We have welcomed an increasing number of international Chinese shoppers to Westfield London year-on-year since opening in 2008. This year 17% of our non EU luxury shoppers were from China and we’ve seen a 9% year-on-year increase in Chinese tourist spend in 2013 in The Village.
“We are very much looking forward to Golden Week this year and our retailers are ready to welcome a significant number of visitors to Westfield. Chinese visitors have started to develop more eclectic and sophisticated tastes over the last five years and now buy across luxury and non-luxury British brands.”
