ILOILO City – Around 95 percent of over 5,000 hotel rooms in this southern city are already booked for the much-anticipated Dinagyang Festival 2020, according to City Tourism Officer Junel Divinagracia.
The big hotels are overbooked, so some tourists could be finding themselves in bed-and- breakfast accommodations, added Divinagracia.
Spill-over tourists may also be accommodated in hotels in nearby towns. Divinagracia said some of these hotels have coordinated with her office.
The tourism official said Dinagyang is expected to attract 100,000 tourists but for the whole year the city government targets to magnet 1.4 million.
For this year, the tourism head said, they are expecting 100,000 tourist arrivals for the Dinagyang alone while for the whole year 2020 their target is 1.4 million.
In the 2019 Dinagyang, tourist arrivals were almost 100,000, said Divinagracia while for the whole year the city welcomed 1.2 million.
She, however, said these figures did not yet include tourists who stayed in bed-and-breakfast accommodations and those who stayed in the homes of local friends.
Tourists started arriving as early as last week, said Divinagracia, but she expects a surge in arrivals beginning today.
This year’s Dinagyang is the festival’s biggest edition in years, according to Mayor Treñas.
Dinagyang is the Hiligaynon word for revelry or merrymaking.
The festival started in 1967. A replica of the Santo Niño de Cebu was brought from Cebu to the San Jose de Placer Church. The image was enthusiastically received by the Ilonggos who danced on the streets of Iloilo City.
Dinagyang is known for its participants’ impressive choreography and striking costumes that reflect Ilonggo ingenuity, craftsmanship and artistry.
It has been voted the “best tourism event” three times in a row – 2006, 2007 and 2008 – by the Association of Tourism Officers in the Philippines./PN
