DOT expects Sinulog to draw repeat visitors

CEBU, Philippines — The Department of Tourism is bullish on the rise of repeat visitors in Cebu throughout this year, as the Sinulog Festival is being deemed as a key event to showcase Cebu as a sought-after tourist destination.

"Sinulog gives us another opportunity to convene tourism stakeholders and showcase Cebu as a sought-after destination," DOT regional director Shalimar Hofer Tamano told The FREEMAN yesterday.

He said he expects more repeat visitors this year considering the significant number of tourists that the agency welcomed on Thursday at the Balik Cebu event at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport.

"With the influx of both intra and inter regional visitors that have come for the Festival, we have reasons to think that we will have more chartered flights and more repeat visitors in the succeeding months," the tourism official explained.

"With this it's tempting to say that there is no other way but up for tourism in Cebu, and in the rest of Central Visayas," Tamano further added.

On its 15th year, Balik Cebu continues its tradition of welcoming balikbayans and even foreign tourists as well for the feast of the Santo Niño and the street-dancing revelry of the Sinulog.

“Now more than ever, we need to remember that the spirit behind the Sinulog keeps us together as a community,” said Tetta Baad, chairman of the Balik Cebu, in an earlier statement.

More than just a tourism event, the Sinulog draws from centuries of devotion to the image of the Child Jesus and has become part of the brand of Cebu as a celebration of faith, music and culture.

The Sinulog Festival has also become one of the major tourist drawers in Cebu as it gets an increasing number of visitors every year.

According to preliminary data from the DOT in Central Visayas, 2.98 million visitors came to the region between January to June 2017, down by 3.85 percent from the 3.10 million arrivals recorded during the first six months of 2016.

The region’s top five foreign markets in terms of tourist volume for the covered period are Korea (402,858), Japan (183,644), China (171,197), USA (106,075) and Australia (32,396).

Arrivals from Korea, Japan and China posted positive growth at 2.31 percent, 2.82 percent and 55.54 percent, respectively.

The number of visitors from the US and Australia, meanwhile, dropped by 4.26 percent and 64.14 percent, respectively.