(Tumon, Guam) The Guam Visitors Bureau (GVB) is looking to partner with businesses interested in developing special offers for the fifth year of the Shop Guam Festival (SGF), now called the Shop Guam e-Festival.

As the biggest shopping event in the Western Pacific, Shop Guam’s global campaign is aimed at creating an interactive world-class shopping experience for residents and visitors, while highlighting Guam as a modern, fashionable, and diverse destination to shop. This year’s festival will begin on December 1, 2016 and will last through February 4, 2017 for a total of 66 days.

NEW MOBILE APP TO EMBRACE SMART TOURISM

Bringing together digital and physical elements, the new 2016 Shop Guam e-Festival mobile application, available this fall, will be the first GVB global campaign that will gravitate to the vision of "Smart Tourism." Taking a long-term sustainable approach, Smart Tourism uses cloud computing, networking and technology to deliver information instantaneously on resources, services and activities to travelers through the power of the internet and mobile technology.

“We invite our local businesses and those in the tourism industry to continue to be a part of the Shop Guam Festival. We have big and exciting plans to usher in a new frontier of mobile marketing that we want everyone to be a part of,” said GVB President and CEO Nathan Denight. “Through the updated version of the Shop Guam app, tourists and local residents can obtain real time information to take advantage of great deals and learn more about our island.”

This will also be the first year GVB will no longer print coupon booklets for Shop Guam but instead, offer a new Savings Passport to encourage mobile app downloads for opportunities to win monthly shopping prizes. The app will additionally be available in six different languages.

“Consumer behavior is always changing and we are incorporating new features in our mobile application that falls in line with ‘Smart Tourism,’ said GVB Global Marketing Director Pilar Laguaña. “It will allow visitors and local residents to experience Shop Guam products and services through the power of technology.”

SHOP GUAM INCREASES IN VALUE

Since its inception in 2012, the Shop Guam Festival has seen tremendous success by garnering $8.4M of media coverage exposure in 2012, $8.7M in 2013, $8.1M in 2014 and $11.4M in 2015. Last year, Shop Guam attracted over 400,000 visitor arrivals during the campaign period with several participating retailers reported over $10,000 worth of Shop Guam Festival offer redemptions. 

For more information to participate in the fifth anniversary of Shop Guam or to develop special offers, please contact GVB’s Shop Guam e-Festival Event Liaison Catherine Bungabong at (671) 988-8871 or email [email protected]  The submission deadline is August 22, 2016.

Media Contact: JOSH TYQUIENGCO - Public Information Officer