Tourism office lines up festivals to attract tourists to Cebu City

CEBU City’s festive mood will no longer end after the Sinulog, with the Cebu City Tourism Commission (CCTC) lining up at least seven festivals to be held every year starting with the first Cebu Chinese New Year Festival next week.

The festivals will be organized to attract local and foreign tourists throughout the year, and give the hotels and restaurants a boost even after the Sinulog.

Among the festivals planned are the Barangayan Festival, Chinese Moon Festival in September, Christmas Tree Festival during the Christmas season, Food Festival, Flower Festival and Water Sports Festival in the summer.

The CCTCC will also organize a series of activities for the week-long observance of the Holy Week, but it will not call it a festival.

“We’re targeting at least five festivals so we can give tourists a reason to keep coming back to Cebu. After the Sinulog, we will have to wait another year for the next festival and nothing happens in between so if we can have other festivals, it will be better for us,” said Cebu City Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young, chairperson of the CCTC.

The CCTC and the Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu (HRRAC) launched the 1st Annual Xin Nian: Cebu Chinese New Year Festival, which will be held at the Ayala Center Terraces on Feb. 5.

The City and HRRAC will join the Cebuano community in welcoming the Year of the Rabbit during the event, which will include a food festival featuring authentic Chinese food.

Xin Nian will be held annually starting this year to highlight the Chinese New Year.

City Councilor Margot Osmeña, a CCTC commissioner, said the Xin Nian is the first project under CCTC’s “What’s New in Old Cebu” campaign.

“We want to give these events more publicity and a different twist so tourists will have other reasons to visit Cebu, not just for the Sinulog. We want to show them what’s new in old Cebu,” she said.