It is true that during this long journey, not everything has been easy. Like all economic sectors and as in almost all the countries of the western world, we have recently experienced difficult times due to the severe financial crisis, but fortunately this is already part of history and in recent years has returned to the path of growth.
As we say in Spain, “facts are stubborn” (los hechos son tozudos) and explain better than words the reality of things. The latest data we have say that sales in centers and commercial parks have had an accumulated growth of 2.4% between January and June of this year, compared to the same period of the previous year. The investment in transactions of centers and parks has reached €1.8 million until September. And in one of the key issues of our economy, the employment, our sector creates 720,000 jobs, of which 332,876 are direct and 387,124 are indirect. Together, the sector creates 2.2% of national employment.
This is the X-ray of the sector at the moment. The truth is that we can be satisfied, but without falling into a comfortable satisfaction. We have room for growth and we are convinced of the enormous potential and great future that shopping centers and retail parks have, which have already become a way of living for large generations of all countries. Consumers no longer go only to buy, but to live an experience and we can say that the offer of catering, leisure, culture, etc. is very wide and extensive in all centers. The consumer has changed and the sector has adapted. This helps us and motivates us to keep growing. And there are plans for it. Up to 2019, it’s expected to be implemented twenty new projects between openings and expansions of centers and commercial parks.
If we talk about the sector in Spain, we can not forget a special feature of our market, the importance of tourism for our economy. The large number of visitors who come to the Iberian peninsula every year in search of sun, beach and shopping is an incentive for all professionals, investors and operators... There is a huge and constantly growing market that adds an extraordinary attraction to our sector.
Well, all this map of the situation we have described, we like to share it and that is why the Spanish Council of Shopping Centers and Retail Parks has for many years been attending important international events such as MAPIC.
For the third consecutive year we celebrate the Spanish Conference. With the title “The magic circle of retail in Spain: leisure, tourism & shopping”, we will analyze the importance of leisure as a fundamental development of shopping centers, shopping tourism, we will see innovative leisure proposals and talk about spaces dedicated exclusively to catering, one of the main reasons consumers go to shopping centers.
And as the past is written, I want to say goodbye with what we can somehow shape: the future. As the title of this letter says, ‘the best is yet to come’. We will continue working to offer spaces with architecture, design, technology, experiences and, of course, commercial and leisure offer to consumers.