Wealthy tourists to get the personal shopping touch

Every tourist destination in the world looks for powerful reasons for the travell- er to ensure that their location is the destination of choice.

The good news for the Irish economy, according to David Daly, the managing director of Tax Free Worldwide, UK and Ireland, is that the number of visitors to Ireland is on the increase from markets such as China (105 per cent increase) and Russia (99 per cent increase) and Malaysia (44 per cent increase). These high-net-worth consumers love luxury brands and excellent design.

A new company called Luxury Ireland plans to tap into this market opportunity and, in a collaboration with Tax Free Worldwide, UK and Ireland, it will offer individuals and tour operators a bespoke shopping experience during which shoppers from outside the EU can avail of 17 per cent fast-track tax return with money refunded on the week of purchase.

The tax-back service can take up to eight weeks, so there is a real benefit for Luxury Ireland customers.

Customers of Luxury Ireland will get a personalised shopping experience at Arnotts, Brown Thomas and Dundrum Town Centre, all in Dublin. A customer or tour operator can register the kind of items they are interested in.

Then they are greeted by somebody who speaks their language at the shopping destination and items are specially chosen for them to look at in private rooms.

Managing director at Luxury Ireland Brid O’Connell says the service “is now a necessity for new and developing markets who travel here’’.

Chief executive of Tourism Ireland Niall Gibbons says: "As we chase new markets for tourism, we discover new demands and shopping is definitely one of them."