Sinulog to see bigger influx of tourists

Contrary to the anticipated slowdown in the tourism industry brought about by the global economic crisis, more tourists are expected to come to this year’s Sinulog compared to the previous years.

Representatives from different travel agencies and officials of travel organizations attested that this year, throngs of international and domestic tourists will still come for the celebration of the Sinulog Mardi Gras.

National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (NAITAS)-Cebu Chapter Chairman and Travelvision managing director Jenny Franco said that Sinulog is always an anticipated event especially by Filipino balikbayans from different parts of the world.

Franco said that most of these balikbayans come to Cebu to celebrate Sinulog as their “panaad” so most of them never fail to attend every year.

She said that despite the looming global financial crisis this year, they still managed to generate an “overwhelming” number of bookings and as a matter of fact they have turned down many bookings because they can no longer accommodate the huge number.

 “Those who have booked early were accommodated but those who booked in the last minute after Christmas were no longer accommodated as most city hotels are now fully booked,” said Franco.

She said that they started accepting bookings for their Sinulog package way back six months ago.

Their guests this coming Sinulog will be composed of a great mixture of foreign tourists from countries such as United States of America and Canada and local tourists from Cebu’s neighboring provinces such as Metro Manila.

She said that their Sinulog package is composed of various activities in line with the celebration such as the dance competition at the Cebu City Sports Center.

Franco said that most of those who availed of their Sinulog package also availed of the Suroy-Suroy sa Sugbo package which is scheduled this coming January 21 to January 23, which will take on the Southern route of the province.

Franco said that compared to last year; they have more guests this year to the point that they could no longer accommodate everyone.

“There are even more tourists this year and there are more rooms now to accommodate this growing number because there have been several new hotels that have opened,” said Franco.

She said that the first preference of tourists are city hotels but as of the moment, almost all of these hotels are full so the spill over are now booked in resorts and other hotels in Mactan.

“The number of tourists going to Cebu to celebrate Sinulog is still unaffected with the crisis. Sinulog is an event that will never be affected by the crisis because for those who patronize the Sto. Niño will still come over whether there is a crisis or not,” said Franco.

Even Cebu Travel and Tours Association (CTTA) past president Cecil Sa-a said that they continue to receive individual bookings this year although they did not really focused their attention in their Sinulog package alone because of their previous chartered flights from Siberia which brought 163 Russian guests.

Sa-a said that they always anticipate Sinulog to be a peak period for Cebu’s travel industry and this year they did not fail with this expectation as more and more tourists both domestic and foreign will still come over to celebrate this festivity.