Cruisin'

For the love of summer ... the Davao destinations are ready to receive visitors with several events that tourism players prepare for this year.  For those who want to spend the long break here, exciting activities are in store for any one of you out there.  Let us explore our destinations and invite others to hae fun and indulge in the beauty of the beaches, the mountains, the food, the people of course and the fun. Why not go for "One Summerfun, One Davao" ...

Tourism stakeholders promote 'One Summerfun, One Davao'

DAVAO CITY, April 2 (PNA) -- The different stakeholders in Davao Region are one in promoting this year's summer activities dubbed as "One Summerfun, One Davao."

One Davao Tourism Officers Association (ODTOA) president Noel Daquioag said it has been their goal to support each other as they market the different destinations in their respective areas.

"New destinations continue to be uncovered in the different places of the Davao Region," he also said.

A unified promotion of these places will entice tourists to visit the different destinations of the region and creating events will also give them a unique experience," he said.

Acting head of the Department of Tourism (DOT) in Region XI Eden Larano said the different local government units come together to complement each other in the promotion of their destinations.

"Because it is summer, most of the events are sports related activities from beach volleyball, mountain climbing, swimming and others," she said.

Digos City tourism head Bebot Felera said they have every summer "Mt. Apo Summer Climb" from April 12 to 20, 2014,that is held in time of the Holy Week. Among others, the participants will be issued a Certificate of Climb. The climb carries a registration fee of P720 for local climber, P432 for student and P1,080 for foreigners.

Meanwhile, Davao del Norte for this summer will have the "Lingaw Sa Tag Araw Summer Workshops" that include workshops on visual art, brass band, dancesport, theater arts, hip-hop dance.

The other event is the Grand Sta. Cruzan which is spearheaded by the Tagum City Tourism Council and the Diocese of Tagum. It is a religious-historical celebration held in small Christian communities Gagmayng Kristohanong Katilingban (GKK) in a presentation in the most colorful May-time festivity which depicts Catholic tradition of procession or parade of Biblical characters and the traditional presentation of the sagala (a religion-historical beauty pageant).

The City of Mati in Davao Oriental has organized "Mati SummerFrolic 2014", an electronic music festival of colors in Barangay Dahican.

Provincial tourism head of Davao Oriental Miguel Troccio said together with this event is the 10th year anniversary celebration of the Amihan sa Dahican surfers which will highlight the Dahican Strip.

Included during the holding of Summerfrolic are beach volleyball, beach frisbee, foam party and the feast on waves of surfing and skim competition.

In Compostela Valley, tourism officer Christine Dumpar said they are also into promoting their pilgrimage site where for this Summer they are encouraging tourists to help in the actual building of houses in Maragusan town where an area there is also badly hit by typhoon Pablo.

Participants, she said will be ushered to a side trip to the different destinations there from mountain climbing and trekking towards the waterfalls and the chance to see the largest flower in the world, Rafflesia, that can only be found in the forests of Maragusan.

She said there are also sports activities in beaches of beach volleyball, duathlon, frisbee, wake-boarding.

Davao City tourism head Lisette Marquez said there will be lined up sports activities even as she said that they will be inviting professional basketball players for this summer's sports event in the city.

Marquez said during summer there is always an increase in arrivals, the city being the island's major destination in the south.

She said fun activities are held and these are done in coordination with the private sector.

Major malls here continue to provide events be it in entertainment or organized activities for the youth and the children, she added. (PNA)

FPV/Digna D. Banzon/ldp