Half of hotels in Iloilo City fully booked for Dinagyang weekend

By: Emme Rose Santiagudo

HALF of hotel rooms in Iloilo City are already fully booked two weeks before the highly anticipated Ati-ati tribes’ competition of the Dinagyang Festival 2019, according to the City Tourism Office.

Tourism Operations Officer I Florence King  Erlano said tourist and guests wanting to join the merry-making have started booking for hotels as early as December 2018.

“Hotels in the city posted their Dinagyang packages as early as November and most of them are offering three to four days of accommodation for the highlight of the festival,” he said.

The highlights for the Dinagyang Festival 2019 are set to commence on Jan 25-27, 2019.

Erlano said that they expect an increase in the number of guests, including foreigners who will witness the festival this year because of the success of the promotions last year.

“We are expecting more guests including foreigners this year because we had a lot of successful promotions last year through various local and international media,” he said.

The city has more than 4,300 hotel rooms, according to Erlano.

He added that hotels, specifically in the areas of City Proper are in demand since these are near the five judging areas of the Ati–ati tribes’ competition on Jan 27.

“Once the area in City Proper are fully booked, tourists and can guests can still for other hotel rooms located in Jaro and Iloilo Business Park in Mandurriao,” Erlano said.

Meanwhile, he encouraged unaccredited hotel rooms in the city to process their accreditation with the Department of Tourism (DOT).

“We encourage them to be accredited by the DOT so that we can also help them promote their services,” he said.

Despite the lack of accreditation, Erlano assured that the facilities and the rooms of some of the hotels were checked and inspected by the City Tourism Office.

“The department had been conducting inspections for the issuance of the tourism license.  During the investigation we were able to check their facilities and room and until now we haven’t received any complaints regarding the servicing of these unaccredited hotels,” he said.

Earlier, DOT-6 announced that MV Pacific Venus, a cruise ship from Japan, will bring in 400 Japanese tourists who will witness the Dinagyang Festival 2019 highlights.

DOT-6 Regional Director Atty. Helen Catalbas said the visit is significant considering the fact that Iloilo City has passed the high standards of Japanese tourists.

According to Catalbas, cruise executives of MV Pacific Venus came to the city last January 2018 to inspect tourism facilities such as the banks, hospitals, hotels, malls, and shopping centers.

“The standard of Japanese tourists is very high and we have met that standard already. During the inspection they were impressed that is why they decided to push through with the cruise ship arrival in January,”  she said.

The IDFI ticket committee earlier announced that the 400 seats at the Freedom Grandstand have already been reserved for the Japanese tourists who will arrive at Iloilo City on January 26, 2019.