‘Meet You in Iloilo’ with city’s new digital flipbook

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By Joseph B.A. Marzan

Those who wish to visit Iloilo City can see more without having to come here, as the Iloilo City Tourism Development Office (ICTDO) launched its new digital flipbook on Wednesday featuring the best of the city.

The 28-page flipbook contains basic travel information to and from Iloilo and within the city, as well as sites dedicated to Culture and Heritage including the Dinagyang and Paraw Regatta festivals, local gastronomical finds, Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Exhibitions (MICE) tourism sites, biking culture, and the art scene.

It also helps travelers to find accommodation establishments accredited by the Department of Tourism, which means that these are up to national and international hospitality and safety standards.

According to the ICTDO’s Facebook post on Wednesday, “This new reading material serves its purpose in introducing the city virtually through the use of interactive animation, videos, [Quick Response (QR)] codes, and other web-based features.”

They added that this “will also help netizens learn more about Iloilo City, connect with its historical resemblance, and discover which destinations are good to visit when touring around the metro.”

City tourism chief Junel Ann Divinagracia touted that this was particularly useful as a basic guide for those new, and even recurring, visitors to the city, timely for the 2023 Dinagyang Festival, which is expected to welcome back tourists from across the globe after a two-year physical hiatus.

“Instead of giving our printable materials, [the flipbook is here] because almost everyone has phones and uses the internet. Through the digital flipbook, they would know where to go in Iloilo, where to dine, [and] where to stay. There are also tourism products, and a brief history of Iloilo,” the tourism chief said.

“People will be transported to a very clear [material], because brochures require [more stringent] reading and may have smaller text, but the [flipbook] can be zoomed and has clickable links which will transport you to different pages,” she added.

This new book was the grand winning entry by writer Gloria Moralidad to the ICTDO-led Digital Tourism Flipbook Contest during the Tourism Month last September 2022, besting other creatives and fellow writers.

“We opened it to ‘techie’ Ilonggos, because we saw many digital [innovations]. The youth of today have so many ways of using the internet, so we said, ‘Might as well make use of the talent of these Ilonggos,” said Divinagracia.

“We liked [Moralidad’s] entry regardless of the animation and QR codes which provide links and sources, her organization [of the flipbook] is very neat,” she added.

The current version of the photobook is still to be updated, and will be accompanied by music for a greater launch in time for Dinagyang.

The flipbook can be accessed through laptops, mobile phones, and tablets through this link: https://heyzine.com/flip-book/831c3b1f9c.html, and is also available through the Facebook pages of Iloilo City Government offices.

Aside from the digital version, Divinagracia added that they are also seeking to have a physical, printed version of the flipbook soon.