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Tag: Philippine Retailers Association

  • Philippines eyed as shopping hub

    Philippines eyed as shopping hub

    The Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) is teaming up with the Department of Tourism and the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) to turn the country into a shopping hub in the region by reviving the Philippine Shopping Festival.

    The shopping festival is being held in line with the DOT’s Visit the Philippines 2015 campaign and PRA’s efforts to develop the Philippine retail industry, which contributes about 15 percent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

    PRA president Lorenzo Formoso, who is also chief operations officer of Duty Free Philippines, said the real objective of the Philippine Shopping Festival is to increase awareness of what the country offers in terms of shopping.

    “Before we get into the numbers, we have to be top of mind,” he said.

    Formoso views the years 2015 and 2016 as a “sweet spot” for the retail industry because more Filipinos will be working, which means more consumer spending.

    He said the retail industry can grow even faster than 5 to 8 percent because of the number of malls that are coming up in the next so many years.

    “At least 20 new malls in the next couple of years, that is the minimum. They’re putting up malls in the major cities,” he said.

    The Philippine Shopping Festival 2015 will be held from October 23 to November 8 in line with the PRA’s Asia Pacific Retailers Convention &Exhibition (APRCE) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) events happening in the country.

    It will be a two-week sale where shopping malls and retailers in the Philippines will offer different discounts and promos to entice people to shop.

    He said the shopping festival will not only benefit the retail and tourism industries but also contribute to other industries like hotels and transportation, thereby helping boost the economy.

    Formoso said APRCE expects to attract to the festival some 2,500 foreign and local retailers and executives on top of the 4,000-plus delegates for the APEC and the coming Christmas season.

    He said the event can help to improve tourism although he admitted that tourism numbers did not dramatically exceed the targets as expected because of some problems. Nonetheless, he remains optimistic because tourism spending has increased.

    “Before, tourists stayed here for a three-day stay but now it is six days. That is double.

    Even if we’re looking at five million [tourists], on spending, if you peg it at the average purchase, it gets to be double because of the number of days spent,” Formoso said.

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  • Philippines retail to get yearly revenue boost from nationwide grand sale

    Philippines retail to get yearly revenue boost from nationwide grand sale

    Philippine retail will get a yearly revenue boost from the recently launched nationwide grand sale called “Philippine Shopping Festival,” which is being eyed to become a yearly event.

    The Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) and Department of Tourism-Tourism Promotions Board (DOT-TPB) partnered to revive the Philippine Shopping Festival and decided to make it an annual event to make the Philippines a new shopping destination in Asia Pacific region.

    PRA Chairman Roberto Claudio said the Philippine Shopping Festival 2015 will put the Philippine retail close to the sophisticated and globally known shopping industry of Singapore and Hong Kong.

    In Singapore, there is an eight weeks event called Great Singapore Sale, which usually occurs in the last week of May until the third week of July

    An international report showed that shoppers, a mixture of foreigners and locals, had spent a five-year high of US$2.12 billion using their MasterCard cards during the Great Singapore Sale this year.

    To be held on October 23 to November 8, the Philippine Shopping Festival will be a two weeks sale where shopping malls and retailers in the country will offer different discounts and promo to entice people, mostly foreign tourists, to shop.

    Claudio said that the first attempt of PRA to do something like this happened two to three years ago but it wasn’t that successful.

    Now, the group and the DOT are banking on the two big regional events that will happen in the country in November as this year’s major drivers for the festival.

    The events that he was talking about are Asia Pacific Retailers Convention and Exhibition (APRCE) and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings which will both bring thousands of foreign delegates.

    Claudio emphasized that as per DOT data, each foreign tourist visiting the country allocates a daily shopping expenditure of US$300.

    “Just imagine if thousands of foreign delegates will spend US$300 a day just for shopping,” Claudio said.

    Around 94 malls will be participating in the nationwide grand sale.

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  • Philippines records 27% hike in Indian tourists from Jan-May 2015

    Philippines records 27% hike in Indian tourists from Jan-May 2015

    The Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippines has welcomed about 31,245 Indian tourists during the first five months of this year, recording an increase of 27.40 per cent, compared with 24,525 tourist arrivals from India from January to May 2014. The destination also plans to welcome tourists to the Philippine Shopping Festival 2015 which will be held from October 23 to November 8, in association with the Philippine Retailers Association (PRA). This was informed by Verna Covar-Buensuceso, Director and Officer-in-charge, Market Development Group, Tourism Development Sector, Department of Tourism (DOT), Philippines, while speaking to the press at the recently concluded multi-city roadshow in New Delhi post travelling to Nagpur, Chandigarh and Lucknow.

    Comprising 11 trade partners from Philippines, this sixth roadshow by DOT Philippines was the biggest-ever delegation to India. The roadshows included interactive B2B sessions, education programmes and workshops and saw participation of over 300 key tour operators, MICE and up-market leisure operators.

    “We aim to achieve 100,000 Indian tourist arrivals by 2017,” said Glen Agustin, Chief Tourism Operations Officer, Market Development Group, DOT, Philippines. He elaborated that they conducted a familiarisation trip for Kolkata-based tour operators wherein participants interacted with their B2B counterparts in Philippines. This has yielded excellent results and the tourism has been booming from the Kolkata since then, he said. Moreover, about 600 tour operators and counting have been certified under the Philippines Specialist Program (PSP) which has indeed assisted tour operators to lure tourists from Tier-II cities as well. As per the trend this year, Indians are staying for seven days on an average and spending about USD 120 a day. Though the length of stay has increased, we look forward to increase the tourism spend as well, highlighted Agustin.

    Agustin felt that the progress has been quite impressive and DOT Philippines will continue to remain bullish on the Indian market. “India ranked as the 13th top source market for Philippines Tourism, and we firmly believe that it has a huge potential to up its ranking. Weddings, MICE and Film Tourism are some products which we are aggressively promoting in the Indian market as of now. More than half of the tourist arrivals in 2014 comprised MICE travellers, especially incentive. In the year going forward, we plan to participate in PATA Travel Mart from September 6-8 in Bengaluru, Karnataka and thereafter in the Outbound Travel Mart 2016 from February 18-20 in Mumbai,” revealed Agustin.

    Elaborating on the Philippine Shopping Festival 2015, Covar-Buensuceso, said, “It will be a two week-long sale where shopping malls and retailers in the Philippines will offer different discounts and promotions to entice people to shop and offer a unique shopping experience. In line with DOT’s ‘Visit the Philippines 2015’ campaign and PRA’s efforts in the development of the Philippine’s retail industry, the Philippine Shopping Festival aims to make the destination a new shopping hub in the Asia Pacific region,” added Buensuceso. She added that India is among the top 10 source markets to travel to newer destinations in Philippines such as Cebu, Davao, Palawan and Bohal along with the preferred ones such as Manila and Boracay.

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