By Ken Gunn / Ken Gunn Consulting
Outlet shopping and tourism have shared a symbiotic relationship for more than forty years. Early examples such as Clarks Village, Foxtown Mendrisio, Bicester Village, and Designer Outlet Roermond pioneered the concept of destination outlet shopping and evolved into magnets for domestic and international visitors alike.
Today, tourism is deeply embedded in the outlet industry’s operating model. Performance is often discussed in terms of VAT refunds or holiday trading periods. Shuttle buses connect centers with airports and major cities, hotels increasingly cluster around outlet destinations, and operators have adopted hospitality-driven approaches that treat shoppers as guests rather than customers. This connection became particularly visible when Value Retail and its Chic Outlet Shopping Villages were featured in the World Tourism Organization Global Report on Shopping Tourism in 2014. Before the pandemic, Bicester Village reportedly generated up to 60% of its sales from visitors outside Europe and, in 2016, became the second most popular destination in the UK for Chinese tourists after Buckingham Palace.
Tourism Does Not Always Correlate With Performance
Yet the relationship between tourism and outlet performance is not always straightforward. Some highly successful outlet centers are located far from traditional tourism hotspots, while other schemes with exceptional tourism potential struggle to translate visitor numbers into leading sales performance. Drawing on more than thirty years of outlet feasibility analysis, we have developed a methodology combining UNWTO and Eurostat tourism data with local accommodation and attraction patterns to estimate tourism catchments for outlet centers across Europe.
At Tier Level, Tourism Appears to Correlate With Outlet Center Performance
At first glance, the data appears to confirm a relationship between tourism and performance. Europe’s highest-performing outlet centers generally benefit from larger volumes of overnight visitors within a 90-minute catchment. Tier 1 schemes average 18.1 million overnight tourists within 90 minutes, compared with 8.1 million for Tier 5 centers. However, the picture becomes more nuanced when individual locations are examined more closely. Several outlet centers in the Paris region enjoy the highest tourism volumes in Europe while achieving only mid-tier sales densities. Meanwhile, only four Tier 1 schemes appear among the twenty centers with the strongest tourism catchments. Our findings therefore suggest that tourism alone does not guarantee success.
Competition, accessibility, brand appeal, environmental quality, public transport connectivity, and destination design all influence whether tourism potential converts into commercial performance.
Tourism Matters Most Where Resident Catchments Are Small
The relationship becomes clearer when tourism is measured not by total volume but by its contribution relative to resident demand. In destinations such as Designer Outlet Algarve, Mallorca Fashion Outlet, and Las Terrazas Outlet, overnight visitors dramatically augment relatively modest resident populations. Designer Outlet Algarve, for example, benefits from 11 million overnight tourists within 60 minutes compared with only around 520,000 residents — an uplift ratio exceeding 21:1.
Island markets illustrate this dynamic particularly well. Centers such as Mallorca Fashion Outlet or Galeon Outlet in Tenerife rely heavily on seasonal — and increasingly year-round — tourism flows. In our view, this highlights potential opportunities for similarly tourism-driven outlet concepts in markets such as Corsica, Crete, Cyprus, Malta, or Ibiza. Yet even here, tourism is not a universal formula for success. Many destinations with strong tourism potential remain mid-tier performers. In our experience, the more important factor is the ability to create compelling guest experiences that encourage visitors to stay longer, spend more, and return frequently.
Tourism is Also a State of Mind
Tourists can be difficult to define and even harder to predict. They are seasonal, highly discerning, time-poor, and often influenced by rapidly changing external factors. Great tourism potential does not automatically translate into strong trading performance.
For outlet operators, this means success depends on far more than location or visitor statistics.
It requires carefully curated destinations that deliver memorable experiences. Tourists are often in a relaxed and positive frame of mind, creating opportunities for brands to strengthen emotional connections with consumers.
At the same time, the presence of tourists enhances the experience for local visitors by making outlet destinations feel more vibrant, aspirational, and cosmopolitan. Investors benefit through higher spending, improved brand attraction, and stronger income performance. Perhaps no one summarized this philosophy better than Scott Malkin, Chairman of Value Retail, who stated in 2010, “Everything we do, our entire corporate being, is directed towards creating an experience in a special, hopefully unique environment for tourists and people who are prepared to travel, think and behave like tourists, even if they live down the road.” In our opinion, the idea of encouraging consumers to “behave like tourists” lies at the heart of successful outlet development. Increasingly, visitors describe outlet trips as “shopping on holiday,” even when they are residents.
Sites With the Greatest Overnight Tourism Within 90 Minutes
Rise of Mixed-Use Outlet Destinations
Successful outlet centers are therefore not simply those with large catchment populations. They are destinations capable of creating memorable environments that encourage visitors to linger, socialize, and enjoy the experience itself.
One of the clearest examples is Gunwharf Quays in the UK. Before its development, Portsmouth was not considered a major family or leisure destination. The development team transformed the waterfront through a carefully integrated mix of outlet retail, restaurants, leisure attractions, hospitality, and residential uses.
Rather than relying solely on shopping, Gunwharf Quays created what we describe as “visit multipliers” — complementary attractions that extend dwell time, increase repeat visitation, and turn a shopping trip into a broader leisure experience. Today, the destination attracts more than 9 million visitors annually and generates sales densities of around €13,000 per sq m.
Other outlet centers applying similar strategies include:
• La Torre Outlet Zaragoza with cinemas and leisure attractions,
• Springfields Outlet Shopping with show gardens and family attractions,
• Puglia Village with cinemas and skate parks,
• London Designer Outlet integrated with hotels, restaurants, entertainment, and Wembley Stadium,
• and Mallorca Fashion Outlet with cinemas, bowling, and children’s attractions.
In each case, the success of these “visit multipliers” depends on thoughtful integration. Functional schemes where complementary activities are physically disconnected rarely achieve the same effect.
Leading Outlet Centers Are Linked With Cultural Tourism And Cross Border Shopping
Untapped Tourism Potential Across Europe
The distribution of outlet centers across Europe closely mirrors major tourism regions including the Algarve, the Alps, the Balearic Islands, the Côte d’Azur, Tuscany, and the Croatian coast.
Tier 1 and Tier 2 centers are typically associated with major urban destinations or cross-border shopping hubs that combine tourism with large resident populations. Lower-tier centers often require broader and more creative approaches to market activation to maximize their potential.
In our assessment, many outlet destinations still underutilize the tourism opportunities available within their catchments. Recent acquisitions such as The Outlet Stores Alicante by VIA Outlets suggest that operators increasingly recognize the long-term value of tourism-oriented growth strategies.
Our research also highlights several regions where tourism-focused outlet development may still hold potential, including Apulia, the Croatian coast, Corsica, Crete, Jutland, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Rhône-Alpes, and Kosovo/Northern Albania.
However, we do not believe that success in these smaller markets will come from replicating large-scale global icons such as Bicester Village. Instead, the future lies in carefully designed, mixed-use destinations tailored to local market realities and capable of generating year-round appeal.
Creating the “Ideal Day Out”
So, is tourism essential for successful outlet development? Our conclusion is unequivocal: yes. But success is not about attracting international visitors or creating globally recognized tourist attractions. Europe has relatively few destinations capable of replicating the scale and reach of the leading luxury outlet villages.
Ultimately, the strongest outlet centers create what we describe as a tourist condition — an atmosphere of relaxation, enjoyment, and escapism that encourages people to spend time as well as money. This is achieved through carefully curated guest experiences, strong hospitality, integrated leisure offers, and exceptional operational management. Brands remain essential, but increasingly consumers visit outlet centers not only to shop, but also to enjoy a complete day out with friends and family.
About Ken Gunn
Ken Gunn is Managing Director of Ken Gunn Consulting and one of Europe’s leading experts on designer outlet centers. With more than 30 years of experience, he has worked on over 200 outlet projects in 35 countries, advising investors and operators on development strategies, acquisitions, and asset performance.
Originally published in ACROSS Magazine Issue 2/2026
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