THE Islands Group of Companies is beefing up its business units by branching out to more areas across the country on the back of the thriving “tourism-retail” sector.
Islands Group president and chief executive officer Jonathan Jay Aldeguer said the company is set to open nine additional outlets of Islands Pasalubong in Manila and Cebu beginning the first half of 2015.
The firm opened its flagship store in Manila in Quezon City last month. By next year, four more outlets will open in Manila in areas like Makati, Parañaque-Alabang and another outlet in Quezon City.
In Cebu, Aldeguer said they plan to open at least five outlets. A new outlet of Islands Pasalubong costs from P8 million to P10 million.
Small businesses
“We are a bit aggressive in expanding Islands Pasalubong because this is a business that caters to everybody. Aside from that this is a concept that showcases the delicacies of the different destinations in the country, and more importantly, a platform for community-based business to plug in their business to us,” said Aldeguer.
He noted that for their Manila operation alone, they have already tapped at least 20 micro-entrepereneurs. Every quarter, the store will introduce or feature different delicacies.
Islands Pasalubong is a one-stop shop that houses the best and most complete assortment of Cebuano brands in local delicacies as well as the hard to find homemade varieties.
Citing its positive market feedback, the firm will likewise introduce another concept — Island Pinoy Deli, a spin-off of Islands Pasalubong, which will open in Banilad Town Center next year. Aldeguer said they will first observe the performance of the store before they will roll it out to other key destinations.
The stand alone store will sell all-time favorite Filipino delicacies such as bibingka, biko, sapin-sapin, kuchinta, and puto’t sikwate among others, prepared by small entrepreneurs here.
Souvenirs
The firm’s souvenir retail-arm, Islands Souvenir, will open six new outlets in the first quarter in 2015.
For this year alone, the firm has opened 14 new outlets, bringing the chain’s total stores to 108 across the country.
“We are increasing investments because the industry we cater to, which is tourism, has been steadily growing amid the challenges it went through,” said Aldeguer. “A lot of investors, including big companies, are still putting money in this industry, which is good indication of its growth potential.”
The Philippines welcomed 3,596,523 visitors for the first nine months of 2014, registering an increase of 2.49 percent over its previous year’s volume of 3,509,017 for the same period, according to records of the Department of Tourism (DOT).
A total of P157.73 billion was generated from inbound tourists for the first nine months of the year. The top five visitor markets in terms of expenditure are Korea, (P45.08 billion), the United States (P30.86 billion), Australia (P9.99 billion), Japan (P8.27 billion), and China (P7.08 billion).
Substantial contribution to visitor receipts were likewise provided by Canada (P5.83 billion), United Kingdom (P5.78 billion), Germany (P3.34 billion), Singapore (P3 billion) and Saudi Arabia (P2.84 billion).
On the other hand, visitors spent an average daily expenditure of P4,865.89 in September 2014, higher by 7.44 percent (P336.75) versus the P4,529.14 average daily expenditure reported in September 2013.
The average per capita expenditure of visitors for the month is $1,049.90 or P46,274.62. On the other hand, visitors stayed for an average stay of 9.51 nights, longer by 3.26 percent compared to the average length of stay of 9.21 nights in September 2013.