It’s more fun shopping in the Philippines.
Especially in March 2020, when the Department of Tourism (DOT) holds a month-long shopping festival, which is the first of its kind in the country.
“By March we will have the first ‘Philippine fun sale.’ For the first time, all malls will hold a sale at the same time. Nationwide,” said Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat at the Kapihan sa Café Adriatico on Wednesday.
The concept was inspired by the The Big Davao Fun Sale, which the DOT Region 11 launched in 2014. That, in turn, was patterned after the annual Great Singapore Sale in September.
DOT Undersecretary for Tourism Regulation Coordination and Resource Generation Arturo P. Boncato Jr. told the BusinessMirror huge discounts await tourists flying in for the shopping sale in the malls, as well as in the hotel bookings. “[Hotels] will provide rates, with Philtoa [Philippine Tour Operators Association] members packaging the trips for the Philippine fun sale…. So there will be tour packages, experiences and the like,” Boncato, a former DOT regional director for Davao, was instrumental in getting more tourists into Davao during the Big Davao Fun Sale held every December, increasing arrivals by as much as 15 percent.
For nationwide fun sale, he noted there will be a special focus on “Filipino crafts and food.”
The mall companies that have signified their intention to participate in the fun sale are SM, Ayala Malls, Power Plant, Shangri-La Plaza, Megaworld, Stores Specialists Inc., Vista Land, Robinsons, Ortigas and Co. (Shoppesville/Virra Mall), and The Araneta Group. Boncato underscored though, “regional brands can also participate, like the Gaisanos of Cebu.”
The DOT official said they are still finalizing the details of the country-wide fun sale but in their next meeting, they will call on not just the malls, but the airlines, as well. Arrivals and revenue targets for the fun sale month will also be determined after the meeting.
Asked why the shopping sale would be held in March, considering this is still peak season for inbound arrivals in the country, Boncato said it was the decision of the malls. Earlier, the malls had eyed January for the shopping fun sale so they could pave the way for new stocks to come in by February.
There had also been suggestions that the fun sale be held during the low season, anywhere from July to September, but there were concerns that the monsoon season would put off tourists.
In March 2019, foreign tourist arrivals grew by 11.13 percent to 714,309.
Meanwhile, Romulo Puyat assured the media that the DOT will be able to exceed its targeted visitor receipts for 2019, even if inbound arrivals may falter with only 6.8 million coming in from January to October. Under the National Tourism Development Plan (NTDP) for 2016-2022, foreign tourists arrivals were targeted to reach 8.2 million this year, up 15.5 percent from 7.1 million in 2018.
“I don’t want to commit that we will reach that number [8.2 million], but I can commit that revenue will be higher than the previous year,” she said. Under the NTDP, the agency is targeting an increase in inbound revenue to P564 billion this year, up 39 percent from 2018.
From January to September 2019, visitor receipts were up 25.8 percent to some P380 billion.
For 2020, the DOT seeks an increase in arrivals to 9.2 million and inbound visitor receipts to P661 billion.