In a press conference after the Kadayawan media launch Monday afternoon, July 17 at Seda Hotel, CTOO head Jennifer Romero said they are expecting that the tourist arrivals will increase.
“Last year for the entire month of August, we recorded around 120,000 tourist arrivals, we would like to have an increase for this year and hopefully we will be able to attain around 180,000 to 200,000 tourist arrivals for the entire month of August,” she said.
The city, she said, has allocated a total of P65-million budget for the staging of this year’s Kadayawan Festival.
The P12 million will come from the trust fund from sponsorships they gathered last year while the P53 million will be shouldered by the city.
As to the preparation of hotels for accomodation, Romero said her office is closely coordinating with hotel sales and marketing associations in relation to availability of rooms for the whole month of August
“Based on our inventory, we have a strong 4,400 available rooms to be used up in time for Kadayan, that includes hotels, condotel, and dormitel,” Romero further said.
She said they are more than ready enough to host this year’s Kadayawan, saying they organized their execom as early as the first week of June to discuss all the details for the kadayawan.
Acting City Administrator Francis Mark Layog in the same media briefing, meanwhile, assures the peace and order in the city especially during this big event.
Peace and order has been a priority and will always be a priority, according to Layog.
“Davao City is safe. Davao is conducive for tourists. We had the best police office in the country last year. The numbers for crime rate are still good, we are maintaining the peace and order in the city,” he said.
This year’s festival carries this theme: “Colors of Abundance, Vibrance of Diversity, Festival of Festivals.”
The city also unveils the brand-new Kadayawan Festival logo which draws inspiration from various sources, including the waves that pay homage to the origin of Davao’s name,morebious festival logos, and cultural patterns from the city’s 11 tribes.
Kadayawan Festival 2023 Logo