In 2024, Italy consolidated its position as one of the world’s favourite tourist shopping destinations, the first in Europe. Tax-free spending by non-EU visitors in the country continues to grow, having risen by 15% last year, and by 20% if we take into account the impact of the new minimum threshold of €70 to qualify for VAT rebate, introduced by Italy’s Ministry of Tourism in 2024. Among the nationalities with the highest share of tax-free spending in Italy, US tourists led with a 25% share, followed by Chinese (11%) and Middle Eastern tourists (10%). These are some of the findings of the survey presented in Milan on Tuesday, March 25, by Global Blue, the international shopping tax refund company, during the Trend&Insight 2025 event. For the occasion, Deloitte also presented its first exclusive report on tourism and retail in Italy, which analysed domestic and European tourist flows as well as non-EU ones.
A panel at the Trend&Insight 2025 event in Milan – Global Blue
Tax-free shopping in Italy recorded a CAGR of 6.6% between 2019 and 2024, with notable year-on-year spending growth recorded by Turkish tourists (up 39%) and Chinese ones (up 35%). (U)HNWIs, i.e. those who spent more than €20,000 on tax-free purchases in 2024, contributed significantly to the results. (U)HNWIs accounted for only 3% of total shoppers, but for 30% of total spending. Significantly, one third of (U)HNWIs worldwide chose to shop in Italy in 2024.
In terms of product categories, 34% of tax-free spending in Italy in 2024 was on ready-to-wear, with a 12% increase over 2023 and an average spend per shopper of €1,200. Leather goods and handbags followed with a 24% share, a 4% rise and a €1,300 average spend, while jewellery recorded a 9% share, with a 5% rise and a €1,500 average spend. Despite accounting for only a 7% share, spending in the watches category increased by 32% over 2023, with an average per shopper of €6,600.
Chinese tourists’ spend at pre-Covid levels, notably in Japan
The 20% growth in tax-free shopping spending in Italy was consistent with worldwide trends. Tax-free spending in Europe as a whole rose by 16%, while Asia was the real global driver, recording a 61% spending growth in 2024, chiefly thanks to Japan’s record performance.
Tax-free spending rebounded slowly in the initial post-pandemic years, but in 2024 its performance overtook that of the luxury market as a whole, currently going through a weak patch. In the 2019-2024 period, the luxury sector posted a 5% CAGR, and the tax-free shopping sector an 8.5% one. The tax-free sector’s resilience was the result of three factors: a 13% increase in travellers and a 29% one in tourist shoppers worldwide; more affordable prices stimulating purchases; and a higher-spending consumer base than the luxury market as a whole, with a 68% share of aspirational shoppers vs a 36% one.
Nationality-wise, in 2024 Chinese tourists returned to and even exceeded, by 12%, their 2019 spending levels. They accounted for 24% of global tax-free spend, thanks to an 81% increase over 2023. Notably, their purchases were chiefly concentrated in Asia: 55% of Chinese spending took place in Japan (whose share was up by 13 points over 2023), equivalent to a whopping 139% spending increase in the country, while Chinese tax-free spending in Europe rose by ‘only’ 35%.
US tourists accounted for 14% of global tax-free spending in 2024, a 20% rise. This was the result of the US dollar’s appreciation, the US stock market’s performance, and the increased global popularity of the many brands that decided to open stores in the USA in 2023. Besides, US shoppers are increasingly high-spending: American UHNWIs increased their spend by 50%, contributing to 10% of total spending.
Category-wise, spending grew for both lifestyle and premium/luxury brands, with the latter’s CAGR in 2019-2024 at 9.5%, vs 6.3% for the former. Proof that tax-free shopping is still a key growth driver for the luxury market, which is generally struggling to increase its revenue, as Global Blue noted. Interestingly, shoppers who bought across the luxury, premium and lifestyle categories increased their spend by 39%, with an average spend of €3,400.
Expectations for 2025
US consumers will be the market’s driving force in 2025, owing to their strong desire to travel (91% of US respondents in a Global Blue survey said they want to visit Europe this year), a record increase in passport numbers (50% of Americans have one, up 5 points over 2019), and a desire to increase luxury spending. Conversely, Chinese tax-free spending will continue to grow at a slower pace, given also that visas for tour groups are harder to come by, though the situation could change in the second half of the year.
The Deloitte study
During Trend&Insight 2025, Global Blue presented part of the exclusive ‘Travellers’ Retail Market in Italy’ study commissioned to Deloitte. The study found that Italy’s current macroeconomic environment is favourable to international tourism, with rising foreign demand playing a positive part in the country’s 2024-2025 GDP growth.
According to the study, in 2024 the offline retail market’s value in Italy was estimated at approximately €240 billion, of which 27% (€63 billion) was attributable to product categories related to discretionary shopping, whose revenue returned to pre-Covid levels thanks to a 1% CAGR in 2019-2024.
About 85% of discretionary shopping revenue (€54 billion) was generated by categories of interest to tourists in Italy, including fashion and apparel, perfume and cosmetics, footwear, leather goods, handbags and accessories, watches and jewellery.
As for tourist flows, approximately 152 million tourists (both domestic and foreign) visited Italian destinations in 2024, up 1% over 2023. The number of international tourists visiting Italy did not reach pre-Covid levels, but grew by 3% in 2024. Domestic tourism instead posted a 3% decrease compared to 2023, also due to the decrease in Italian household purchasing power.
In 2024, about 35 million people visited Italy on holiday, spending on average more than those who visited the country for other reasons. The average length of stay in Italy by foreign tourists was slightly lower than in 2023, from 4.5 nights to 4.1 nights. However, there was a shift towards higher-end hotels, in line with the positive revenue trend for 5-star and 4-star hotels, where spending per stay grew by 11% and 10% respectively.
Excluding accommodation expenses, the total expenditure incurred by international tourists in Italy in 2024 was about €54 billion, up 5% over 2023; of this, 26% was devoted to shopping, the second expenditure category after food & dining, which had a 42% share. Shopping spending posted double-digit growth over the previous year, rising by 10.6% in 2024.
Looking to the future, the propensity of foreigners to travel has continued to increase in early 2025, while for the next three years, the Italian offline retail market for the main product categories in which tourists typically spend their money is expected to grow modestly.
“[Tax-free spending] growth [in Italy] in 2024 was significant, thanks also to the positive contribution of the lower spending threshold to qualify for VAT rebate. The upward trend has been confirmed in early 2025. It will be crucial for brands to follow the market’s evolution via increasingly comprehensive and in-depth data analysis,” said Stefano Rizzi, managing director Italy of Global Blue, a NYSE-listed company that connects thousands of retailers, buyers and hotels with almost 80 million consumers in 53 different countries, with tax-free shopping, payments and post-purchasing solutions. With over 2,000 employees and a revenue of €422 million in fiscal 2023-24, Global Blue generated €28 billion of in-store sales in the same year through its solutions.
Tommaso Nastasi, partner of Deloitte Italy, said that “international tourism is a strategic driver for the retail trade in Italy, within an unstable macroeconomic environment. Investing in an ad hoc value proposition would enable brands to exploit a high-added-value sector and bolster market growth for the coming years.”
Britain’s Frasers Group announced on Wednesday that it had made another strategic investment in German high-end fashion giant Hugo Boss AG through the further sale of ‘put options’ over Hugo Boss’s shares.
David Beckham is one of Hugo Boss’s recent celebrity signings – Boss
A put option is a financial contract in which the holder has the right to sell an asset at a predetermined price on or before a specific date (in this case June 2027).
It means Frasers Group holds over 13.5 million shares of the German firm’s common stock, raising its stake to 19.2% of its total share capital. And the stake could be raised to up to 16.7 million shares of common stock through the sale of put options, or up to 23.7% of the total share capital of Hugo Boss.
The company said its “maximum aggregate exposure in connection with its net acquired interests” in Hugo Boss, at the closing share price on Wednesday is approximately €1.02 billion or around £850 million, covering over 30.2 million shares if the put options were exercised in full.
Reuters
The company stressed — as it has said before — that it makes “strategic investments in the ordinary course of its business to develop relationships and partnerships with other retailers and to build relationships with key suppliers and brands”. In other words, this isn’t a general move towards a takeover attempt.
It added that it “remains a long-term investor in Hugo Boss and the board of directors of Frasers Group”believes that the HB Strategic Investment will create value for the company’s shareholders, as its strategic investments in Hugo Boss have done in the past”.
Hugo Boss shares closed Wednesday at €35.43 each. That gave the company a value of €2.56 billion. But the share price — and market value — is down almost 33% in the past year, although it’s up 62% in five years.
Frasers CEO Michael Murray has been nominated for election to the Supervisory Board of Hugo Boss in May.
We know Mother’s Day was a big draw for physical retail with footfall and sales ahead of last year, but The Perfume Shop looks to have taken performance to a different level.
Claiming the top spot as the UK’s largest specialist perfume retailer, its sales in the lead up to Mother’s Day on 30 March “went above and beyond” with 280,916 bottles sold across the wider 9-30 March trading period.
What’s more, the week leading up to the day was up 56% on a year ago. That helped push overall sales up 14% on 2024.
Top 10 sellers were led by Lancôme La Vie Est Belle, followed by Chanel Coco Mademoiselle, Yves Saint Laurent Libre, Prada Paradoxe, Carolina Herrera Good Girl, Mugler Alien, Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium, Chanel No5, Dior Miss Dior and Mugler Angel.
Digging deeper, The Perfume Shop said sales were driven by a 30% increase in sales of classic perfumes, 3% in new and trending perfumes and a 2% increase in gift sets compared to 2024.
Promotional deals also proved popular with the website’s busiest day on Tuesday (25 March) seeing a 69% increase in perfume purchases compared to last year. Some 35% of all orders last week were customers making the most of the next-day delivery service.
Also, the retailer’s personalisation services were in demand, delivering over 43,688 ribbons (21,500 of these being sold last week) and 1,091 engraved bottles in the three weeks running up to Mother’s Day.
Karen Harris, Customer director from The Perfume Shop said: “Perfume is such a personal and lasting gift, and this year’s sales have truly reflected that, with a remarkable uplift in both classic and trending scents. Our personalisation services have also been more popular than ever, showing just how much thought goes into selecting the perfect perfume.”
Antler has enjoyed success over the past three years and hit annual sales of £45 million, but now the British travel brand has set its sights on further growth to become a £100 million brand by fiscal 2029.
Antler
That will involve continued investment in “brand, product, and people” with further expansion into new categories beyond luggage, Antler said as it announced its latest trading figures.
The ambitious outlook is underpinned by a third consecutive year of double-digit growth across FY22 to FY25, as the business ended its FY25 trading year (1 March 2024 to 29 February 2025) with those global sales of £45 million.
The UK remains the brand’s highest-performing market, which has seen 120% growth across key strategic wholesale partners including John Lewis, Selfridges and Fenwick. They now represent over 50% of total sales, up 16% on last year.
But also key to targeting £100 million sales is the physical expansion into the US and Australia that began in 2024 with the opening of two retail locations in New York and Sydney.
US ops were up 43% in FY25, supported by launches with department stores Bloomingdales and Nordstrom, while Australia, which continues to be Antler’s second-largest market at 40% of the sales mix, also saw year-on-year growth of 7%.
It said FY25 “marked the convergence of Antler’s brand reimagination and a renewed product strategy, brought to life for the first time with the launch of the Icon Stripe collection in April 2024”. It has become the brand’s best-selling collection and was the first to be designed under the leadership of managing director Kirsty Glenne.
For the FY26 trading year, a strategic focus on travel bags and accessories is forecast to grow the brand’s portfolio by 310%by the end of 2025. This month also sees the launch of the brand’s most premium collection. Two years in the making, the new Heritage Collection becomes “an ode to the brand’s 110-year travel and design legacy”, it said.
According to Glenne: “Antler had a transformative year in 2024 following the launch of our Icon collection, cementing our position as the cult British travel brand.
“In 2025, we’re dedicated to continuing our expansion into lifestyle, by diversifying our product offering with a strong focus on bags. As part of our global expansion strategy, we will also be investing heavily in new markets as we continue to grow across the US, Australia and RoW.”
And it plans to “redefine consumer expectations and continue expansion into new categories… FY26 is set to be the brand’s most exciting and innovative year yet,” she added.
Entertainment8 years ago