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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Davao sees 170k Xmas tourists

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DAVAO CITY—This city expects around 170,000 tourists for Christmas this year, or around 10,000 more than last year, the city tourism office said.

Even without firecrackers or pyrotechnics displays, Davao has become a destination for domestic tourism because of its month-long Pasko Fiesta.

“We know that our fellow Dabawenyos are the ones who invited their friends and relatives to experience the celebration of Christmas here in the city, “ Davao City Tourism Operations Office chief Generose Tecson said.

Tourists can experience the activities of the Pasko Fiesta sa Davao such as the “Kaon sa Davao” or the food festival along Palma Gil Street, and “Kan-anan sa Tribo” at the Magsaysay Park’s Kadayawan Village, where people can experience the different food of the city’s indigenous tribes.

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“We want them to experience how we celebrate as people. Despite our differences in our culture and traditions, we still unite and that’s our difference from other places,” Tecson said.

She said the visitors can also enjoy the lantern parade and the choral competition at City Hall.

Last year, Tecson said the number of city visitors reached 160,000 based on hotel occupancy — the year when a bomb exploded at the Roxas night market, killing 14 and injuring 70. 

“We are really targeting last year’s arrivals. We’ve seen the trend that after the declaration of martial law our tourist arrivals decreased,” Tecson said.

“However, it was surprising that in July our tourist arrivals increased and during Kadayawan that was really terrific because there were many people who came to Davao,” Tecson added. 

Meanwhile, the ease of doing business in Davao City is expected to improve with the new Davao City Investment and Tourism building along Palma Gil St. expected to be completed by late-2018.

The four-story building will house both the Davao City Investment and Promotion Center and the City Tourism Operations Office. It broke ground on Tuesday, Dec. 12 with an allocated fund of P50 million.

“Our services offered in DCIPC will be much more accessible to our potential investors. The mandate of both DCIPC and CTOO is to promote the city. The only difference is that we are into the investment and they are into the tourism sector,” said DCIPC head Lemuel Ortonio.

“With this new building, the coordination and communication between these two offices will be easier and accessible and more efficient because we are located in one building,” Ortonio added.

Investment and tourism go hand in hand, for both are integral drivers that push the economy forward with both being among the key priority areas of the city government, he added.

With the increasing attention that Davao City is receiving these recent times, comes an increase in investment opportunities as well as tourist arrivals and tourist opportunities,” the city investment chief said.

“I hope this bigger, more spacious area will inspire you to continue accommodate clients, prospective investors, and guests to the best of your abilities and provide improved services,” said Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio in a statement read by city council tourism committee chair Al Ryan Alejandre. 

Apart from DCIPC and CTOO, the new Davao City Investment and Tourism building will also house the Negosyo Center, which is located at the current DCIPC office at Magsaysay Park. 

This is the first Negosyo Center in Davao City. The office of the Optical Media Board will also be housed in the new building. Ortonio said they target to move to the new building by the last quarter of 2018.

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