TO HELP the ailing micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is working with the Department of Tourism to create initiatives aimed at bringing back consumer confidence.
DTI Assistant Secretary Asteria Caberte, during a Zoom meeting for the Great Cebu Sale on Monday, Aug. 31, said they are catching up with the needs and concerns of the business sector that range from border access to logistical problems.
“If we really move tourism in the region, at least, that can move a lot of people. We’re dipping our hands in tourism because if we push tourism, the MSMEs in the value chain can very well ride on it immediately,” she said.
Caberte said there are many MSMEs that are ready to come back to business under the better normal.
Alice Queblatin, Cebu Alliance of Tour Operations Specialists president, said the tourism industry is in dire need to recover as they have been extremely affected by the pandemic.
“The reason why we thought that it is really best to take part in this Great Cebu Sale is to capture back the consumer confidence. As far as tourism is concerned, it is really capturing back the confidence in travel,” she said.
The virtual shopping festival is slated on Sept. 15 to Oct. 31.
It already has 170 merchant participants from the hospitality, wellness, travel, automotive, fashion, hardware, electronics, and food industries.
First step to building business
Philippine Retailers Association president Chester Lim said it is Cebu’s first step to “building up business and consumer confidence through a movement of consumption.”
Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) president Steven Yu said the activity will become a precedent for businesses in their shift to digitalization.
“The Great Cebu Sale’s implicit objective is to jumpstart the confidence of the business community to re-open their businesses after five months of lockdown. It also directs the businesses to go digital as part of their business model. It also hopes to bring back the consumers’ appetite to spend, and make the economic flywheel run again,” he said.
“While we remain cautious with our health situation, we have to remember that it is equally important to open the economy and rev up the purchasing power. Without the purchasing power, the businesses cannot be sustained and will bleed to death. This activity also hopes to be the catalyst to ignite a series of selling and promotional activities to happen from hereon. I hope this will be the beginning of a better normal for Cebu,” he added.
The Great Cebu Sale 2020 was organized in collaboration with the Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu Inc., Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, MCCI, Cebu Filipino Chinese Chamber of Commerce, Hardwares Consolidated Inc., Cebu Alliance of Tour Operation Specialists Inc., Cebu Business Club and the Mactan Export Processing Zone Chamber of Exporters and Manufacturers.