Shop The World

Shop-AR - Oct7

The fifth annual Shop The World Tourism Conference took place yesterday (Oct. 6) at the Hyatt Regency Toronto.

Presented by Tourism Toronto and Shop America Alliance, the event featured presentations on attracting international shoppers, luxury retail and tourism trends, and more.

“The idea is to bring together leaders in tourism, discuss the issues and really create more of an opportunity to market shopping tourism on a global basis,” Rosemary McCormick, president of the Shop America Alliance, told PressToday.

In light of the dropping value of the Canadian dollar, she suggests travel agents let clients know they can attain discounts as international shoppers by visiting customer service or concierge booths at malls and outlet centres.

“They will give you these booklets, these cards with all these extra discounts just because you are international,” she says.

Matthew Bauer, president of the Madison Avenue Business Improvement District in NYC, spoke about the positive impact marketing partnerships with sister streets in another city can have on tourism, and how meetings with tour operators and local hotel concierges can also drive more visitors to a city destination.

“I think the critical part about what makes Madison Avenue an attractive place for visitors to go is that it embraces the local community,” he says. “There’s a lot of opportunities [for travel agents] to develop packages that would incorporate not only a visit to a fashion brand, but we have some great restaurants, hotels and one of the largest art gallery districts in North America as well, so you could really have a full experience on Madison Avenue.”

Pictured at the event are (l-r) Pamela Laite of Tourism Toronto, Bauer and McCormick.