Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Sinulog to place Cebu as 'undisputed leader of festivals'

MAYOR Tomas Osmeña is worried that the lack of hotel rooms in Cebu will hamper plans to make Cebu City the "grand mardi gras capital in Asia," but he vowed to organize more festivals to promote tourism.

Just as the Sinulog 2004 festivities ended, the City Government is already making plans on how to make the 25th celebration of the Sinulog more spectacular.

The Sinulog next year will showcase Cebu "as the undisputed leader among all the festivals," the mayor said.

Osmeña said, though, that the activities will depend on what the Cebuanos want since it is the people's money that they will use for Sinulog 2005.

While it is possible for Cebu to host the "Best of the Mardi Gras," a presentation of festivals in the Visayas and Mindanao, the mayor expects difficulties in preparing for it.

"It is pointless to invite people to come to Sinulog because there are no hotel rooms available for them. That is why I already stopped inviting guests from other countries," Osmeña said.

The next Sinulog has to be market-driven, the mayor said, and will depend largely on what the Cebuanos and the foreigners are looking for.

The only problem that he can foresee is that the visitors will have difficulty in getting hotel rooms, like what happened last week.

"We have to open more hotels in Cebu but the problem is the developers don't see a sustainable market here. There are even three existing hotels that are not open yet but realistically, we can't ask them to open just for the Sinulog," he said.

To solve the problem, the mayor plans to create two or three more festivals other than the Sinulog, which should be held at different times of the year to avoid a shortage in hotel rooms.

He is counting on the Sugbayanihan Festival to be one of them, which will be made the "Great Independence Day Cookout."

At the Sinulog 2004 awarding ceremony Monday, Osmeña thanked city officials and the Cebuano community for cooperating and making the Sinulog and the presidential visit orderly.

Although there were minor lapses in security and traffic management, no major problems were encountered, he said.

"The difference in this year's Sinulog is that it has demonstrated that Cebu is ready to compete. I really want to thank the Cebuanos themselves because if you have so many people in the streets and there is no major problem, that is a phenomenon," Osmeña said. LCR

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