And we think Filipinos who migrated to the land of milk and honey are merely amassing the dollars they earn as either professionals or blue-collar workers.
How about thinking that they are also trying to help Filipino American entrepreneurs across the US and Filipino small and medium businessmen get their products into the American market?
Fiesta In America, known to thousands of Filipino Americans in seven U.S. states, as the biggest indoor consumer expo of its kind on America’s east coast, could be “the Philippine export and tourism industries’ best overseas direct marketing tool ever.”
This prediction was made at a Business Mixer and presentation at Annabel’s Quezon City on Feb. 18 by Arlen Manansala, Fiesta In America’s vice president for Marketing and Communications.
New York-based Manansala has been in the Philippines since Feb. 4 on a mission to promote the two-day, indoor expo as an effective sales, branding and awareness vehicle for small and medium-sized manufacturers of export products; for real estate companies wishing to position the Philippines as the ideal investment and retirement haven; operators of hotels, casinos, and resorts; as well as travel professionals and government agencies involved in trade and tourism market development.
“Demographics speak volumes about the economic power of Filipinos in New York and New Jersey that can fuel the influx of artisanal goods to the affluent northeast market and, conversely, drive the flow of FilAm as well as multicultural tourists into the Philippines,” Manansala emphasized at the presentation. He pointed to the median family income of Filipinos in New York and New Jersey, which, at more than $92,000 a year, is nearly twice the U.S. median household income. The US Census reports that a large proportion of Filipinos in the U.S. are college-educated and engaged in white-collar occupations; many belong to two- and three-income households. Along with the Vietnamese, Filipino Americans have the highest rate of home-ownership among all population groups in America. Those are eye-opening data that paint a rosy picture for homegrown exports and inbound tourism.
“In fact,” Fiesta In America’s spokesperson asserted, “the median household income of Filipinos in all 50 U.S. states exceeds $75,000 a year, well ahead of other groups and even Whites. But perhaps more important, Filipino immigrants crave for Philippine-made products that are not easily found in U.S. stores. Being well-travelled, they are keen on discovering new travel hot spots aside from their own hometowns and well-known tourist magnets, like Palawan and Boracay.”
Indeed, tens of thousands of FilAms in the U.S. northeast region are baby boomers on the lookout for retirement, vacation, and investment properties close to the families and friends they left behind when they pursued the American dream.
Indoor consumer expositions such as Fiesta In America present unique opportunities for Philippine businesses to carve a slice of the lucrative North American market, with a focus on high-income consumers in Fiesta In America’s seven-state visitor footprint. Based on data supplied by Fiesta In America’s New York City main office, visitors to the annual expo average anywhere from 10,000 to 14,000 over its two-day run in the summer. More than 200,000 individuals have been to the event since 1998 when the expo was launched as the Philippine Trade and Cultural Show. The expo’s 18th anniversary will be celebrated on Aug. 13 and 14 at its home-venue for the last 14 years, the Meadowlands Expo Center (MEC) in Secaucus, New Jersey. Some 30 minutes by car from New York, the 61,000 sq. ft. MEC boasts 5,000 free indoor parking spaces, and easy accessibility by public transport. It is one of the premier exhibition and conference sites in the U.S. mid-Atlantic corridor.
Fiesta In America’s marquee offering is a Trade and Travel Pavilion that occupies nearly 70 percent of the MEC. It can accommodate more than 150 piped and draped exhibitor booths, each measuring 3.33m X 3.33M (10 ft. X 10 ft.). A large native Food Court, four 50-seat seminar rooms, a 20,000-copy magazine (Fiesta Talks), and two nights of live musical concerts starring A-List performers from The Filipino Channel round-up the expo’s direct-marketing and sales-activating features for businesses.
In previous Fiesta in America, the organizers were able to invite the likes of PioloPascual, MaxeneMagalona, Vina Morales, and Edgar Allan Guzman to grace the two- day trade and cultural fair.
This year, the organizers are hoping they could invite Kapamilya’s popular love teams and other stars that are familiar with Filipinos in the US.
Fiesta in America is a brainchild of Filipino immigrant to the US Fernando Mendez who had the vision to help fellow Filipino entrepreneurs sell their products in the American market.
For more information on how to take part as sponsors, exhibitors or advertisers, email info@fiestainamerica.com or visit www.fiestainamerica.com. For phone inquiries, please call Fiesta In America’s New York office at 212-682-6610.