Making Shops a Stop on Vacation Tours

South Coast Plaza hires a tour bus operator to run regular shuttles to hotels in the Anaheim and Long Beach areas for tourists who want to exercise their shopping muscles.

The Beverly Center lends electronic language translators to foreign tourists so they can better communicate their shopping needs to store clerks.

But topping them all is the beyond-huge Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., which works with Northwest Airlines to fly in tourists from London every Friday afternoon, serve up a weekend of shopping and other mall attractions and fly them back on Sunday afternoon.

Malls: Think of them as theme parks for traveling shoppers.

The retail industry has figured out what the tourism industry has long known: Shopping is a favorite activity of travelers. And now the retail industry is seeking new ways to attract tourist dollars.

At the Discover America International Pow Wow, a travel industry trade show that ended Wednesday after five days at the Los Angeles Convention Center, several malls and shopping areas plunked down a few thousand dollars each for booths to showcase their charms. The retailers aren’t content to let the occasional tourist stumble into their establishments. They are actively pursuing tour groups and seeking space, with photos, please, in the tour brochures.

“People don’t have to pay admission to get into a mall, and they spend a lot of money once they get there,” said Carol Martinez, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau. “These are highly desired customers . . . and for a lot of the international tourists, shopping here is a great deal” because of favorable exchange rates.

Research by the now-defunct U.S. Travel and Trade Administration found that 88% of international travelers rate shopping as their favorite travel activity. Shopping ranks No. 2 with domestic travelers, after eating.

South Coast Plaza was one of the first malls to catch on, and now tourists account for more than 20% of the 18 million to 20 million people who visit the upscale Orange County mall each year, said Werner Escher, director of domestic and international markets for the center.

The mall has concierges who together speak six languages, facilities to exchange money and special discounts at various stores.

The Beverly Center gets about 3 million tourists a year and offers similar amenities, said Evette Caceres, the mall’s marketing director.