Europe’s largest outlet mall targets Gulf shoppers

• Outletcity Metzingen promoted as a travel destination to Gulf consumers
• Germany records 318% increase for overnight stays from Gulf nationals

Outletcity Metzingen, Europe’s largest luxury discount outlet mall, has signed a partnership to promote the destination to Gulf shoppers, as Germany reported a 318 percent surge in tourists from the region in the first half of this year.

The shopping centre, which is located in the south of Germany, struck the deal with Dubai-based AVIAREPS Middle East to promote it to travellers and consumers in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.

Outletcity Metzingen is near the Black Forest region, about 30 minutes from Stuttgart. It sells 500 premium and luxury brands, with discounts of up to 70 percent.

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Angela Rieger, international partnership manager, Outletcity Metzingen, said she was pleased “to finally have a permanent physical presence in the GCC market”. She added she is aiming to target “all shopping and fashion enthusiasts as well as general travellers from the Gulf countries who are planning a visit to Europe”.

Tourism to Germany is already surging, according to the German National Tourist Board (GNTB). In the first six months of 2022 there were 335,000 overnight stays from Gulf nationals, an increase of 318 percent year-on-year.

The GNTB also reported in May that it had increased its 2022 marketing budget in the Gulf, after making savings by shutting down several of its international offices, including Russia.

“We actually got a 10 percent budget increase because we unfortunately had to close our Russian office,” Yamina Sofo, director of sales and marketing for the GCC at the German National Tourist Office (GNTO), an affiliate of the GNTB, told AGBI at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai in May.

Sofo said she planned to use the extra budget to expand Germany’s marketing, press and social media activities in the Gulf, including a roadshow which took place earlier this month, visiting cities such as Doha, Kuwait City, Riyadh, Jeddah and Dubai.