One Visayas to boost tourism

By Rhia de Pablo Updated February 28, 2009 12:00 AM

CEBU, Philippines - Showcasing the arts and culture of 16 municipalities in the three regions in the Visayas, the upcoming One Visayas Culture and Arts Festival is seen to draw in both local and foreign tourism markets to Cebu.

In a recent press conference, regional coordinator and Department of Tourism (DOT) Central Visayas regional director Patria Aurora Roa said that One Visayas will highlight a strong arts and culture, which is a strong component of tourism.

She said that this event will allow Cebu to get more warm bodies to come over and spend their money here that will further fuel the local economy.

In her overview of the event, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said that the hosting of the province for the first ever One Visayas was a unanimous decision between the three Regional Development Committee (RDC) chairs from the three regions in the Visayas in a convention held recently in Iloilo.

“We wanted to get things done and do projects that are “implementable” that will give Visayas its own identity. They were impressed with what’s happening in Cebu and taken notice of One Cebu which symbolized unity so we decided on doing One Visayas,” said Garcia.

She said that arts and culture is the focus of the festival because despite of some differences, Visayans have blended and harmonized culture.

”This event showcases the cooperation and commitment of all provinces in the Visayas through arts and culture. We want to show that this can be done so that other regions can also follow suit. We have to focus on things that unite us,” said the governor.

Board Member Agnes Magpale who is also the executive director of the event said that even on short notice, Cebu was able to mobilize all sectors to get things going for the upcoming One Visayas to be held at the Cebu International Convention Center this coming March 1 to 8.

“This is a good opportunity for students, teachers and anyone of us to know the diverse culture of Visayas. This event also shows how ready Cebu is to be come a host for any international event even on such a short notice,” said Magpale.

One Visayas will showcase the arts and culture exhibitions, song and dance performances, cultural presentations, street dancing, film festivals, culinary demonstrations, theater arts, fine arts, crafts, architecture, literature of the different regions in the Visayas.

To make the event accessible to anyone, the governor has recently put a regular jeepney route going to and from the CICC.

In an interview, Roa said that One Visayas indeed has a great tourism potential and impact because everyone will get to see the beauty and the diverse culture of the 16 provinces in the Visayas.

“This event is a feasting of the eyes and it will indeed help us in our initiative to attract more domestic and international tourists not only to Cebu but for the whole Visayas,” said Roa.

She said that as a multi-faceted event, One Visayas will definitely be a “crowd drawer” so influx of more people coming to Cebu is expected.

“Cebu and the Central Visayas region is still doing fine despite the economic meltdown. We may feel the recession by the second and the third quarter of this year because it can’t be avoided considering the diminishing number of traffic but as of the moment the percentage of growth has not declined yet. We are anticipating growth although we do not expect it to be as big as previous quarters,” said Roa.

She said that Central Visayas was able to grow 12 percent for the year 2008; still a double digit growth amidst the worsening global economic crisis and Cebu consisted the bulk of this growth sharing about 80 to 85 percent of tourism traffic.