Manila 11th most attractive for foreign shoppers, says Global Blue

Manila was ranked 11th in the Globe Shopper Index, published by Global Blue, a few points behind Delhi and ahead of Taipei, with Hong Kong topping the index as the most attractive city for international travel shoppers in Asia-Pacific.

Global Blue’s expanded Globe Shopper Index added 25 Asia-Pacific cities to the existing 33 European cities and ranked them on the experience they provided to international travel shoppers. The rankings were based on five categories covering shops, affordability, convenience, hotels and transport, and culture and climate. Global Blue developed the Globe Shopper Index in partnership with the Economist Intelligence Unit as an essential planning tool for all international travel shoppers searching for their next shopping destination in Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Manila’s performance was driven by its score in the “affordability” category, where the place ranked well for its affordable two- and four-star hotels and cheap public transport. Manila’s ranking was also helped by the range of large shopping malls in the city, Manila was fourth on this criteria, with five malls available to globe shoppers.

However, Manila was pushed down the rankings due to a poor performance in the “hotels and transport” and “shops” categories. Its low rank in this category was mainly due to the limited availability of hotels and the quality of its public transport made the city less attractive to globe shoppers. Despite having many large malls, the city offered a limited range of international brands, which weakened its performance in the “shops” category.

Whether shoppers care most about finding a great place to lunch, or an open-all-hours shopping culture, whether they just wanted great prices or are looking for the biggest variety of luxury goods to choose from, the Globe Shopper Index is the place to start researching a destination city. Shoppers can visit www.globeshopperindex.com, select the city features most important to them and find the cities that best match their preferences. They can then share their preferred cities online with their friends to gather shopping tips.

Global Blue works with more than 270,000 of the world’s favorite retailers, shopping brands and hotels in over 40 countries. It serves more than 60,000 travellers every day. The company said its ambition was to become the beacon for international shopping and spending across the globe. Global Blue’s headquarters are in Nyon, close to Geneva, Switzerland.

Having invented the concept of tax-free shopping 30 years ago, Global Blue offers a wide range of services that help consumers shop and spend wisely when they are in foreign countries, and merchants and banks increase their revenues from the lucrative traveller market.

The Globe Shopper City Index-Asia-Pacific measures the attractiveness of 25 major Asia-Pacific cities for international travel shopping. A city’s index score is made up of 38 criteria, which are grouped into five categories covering shops, affordability, convenience, hotels and transport, and culture and climate. Criteria were assessed quantitatively (for example, number of passenger flights annually), or qualitatively, such as the likelihood of bargaining a discount in various stores.

Each city has an average category score. All five category scores were averaged to give an overall index score. Criteria scores were converted to an index score between zero and 100. The EIU developed all the criteria and categories independently. All categories were given equal weighting in the index. Index cities were selected based on visitor numbers and economic importance while also factoring geographic diversity.

Index Table

RANK CITY SCORE       RANK CITY SCORE

1     Hong Kong   68.5        14    Bangalore   49.6

2     Kuala Lumpur      65.0        15    Guanzhou    48.4

3     Shanghai    63.0        16    Mumbai      48.3

4     Beijing     60.6        17    Jakarta     45.7

5     Singapore   60.1        18    Osaka       45.1

6     Sydney      58.5        19    Ho Chi Minh City 44.9

7     Bangkok     57.0        20    Busan       44.7

8     Tokyo       56.4        21    Nagoya      38.5

9     Seoul       54.7        22    Colombo     36.3

10    Delhi       52.8        23    Dhaka       35.7

11    Manila      51.5        24    Karachi     34.1

12    Taipei      51.4        25    Yangon      29.8

13   Auckland     50.1