Duty Free Luxe promotes local products to tourists

The Department of Tourism (DOT) and Duty Free Philippines Corp. (DFPC) are actively promoting local products not only to balikbayans, but also to foreign tourists through the new Duty Free Luxe outlet store.

“We are making sure that we would be selling local products because when you are a foreigner or a balikbayan, you want to bring home local products,” Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat told reporters.

“You know local has never been so good now everybody wants to go local, buy local,” she said.

Puyat said DFPC would allot a space for Go Lokal, an initiative of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in its Duty Free Luxe store at the Mall of Asia complex in Pasay City.

She added that this project aims to help local artisans and small entrepreneurs to have a venue to sell their products.

DFPC chief operating officer Vico Angala said they would work in line with the thrust of the DOT to promote local products.

“For the longest time we have been catering to the

balikbayans and OFWs as well as with new emerging markets which are the Chinese and Koreans,” Angala said.

“We are opening the store, but again the thrust is to highlight local items we have right now,” he said.

DFPC earlier said it generated over P4.1 million in total sales in Duty Free Luxe’s soft opening from Oct. 17 to 24.

“This is a good indication of Duty Free Luxe’s robust sales performance until the holiday season,” Angala said.

“We are optimistic that sales performance will continue to rise when we do our grand opening in the first quarter of 2019 and as we develop the store’s awareness to the public,” Angala added.