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Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Vendors, tour guides earn more during Sinulog fest
As they had anticipated, street vendors saw a boost in their income during the Sinulog Grand Parade last Sunday.
Local tour guides also benefited from the festivities as they served more guests.
Cebu City United Vendors Association (CCUVA) president Maria Pino-Buanghug said its members were among the vendors who sold various products in the streets during the parade.
She said they took advantage of the influx of people that came to the city.
While most of CCUVA members sell vegetables and fruits in the market on regular days, she said in an interview yesterday that they resorted to selling mineral water, caps and food, among other festival essentials.
Tourists
CCUVA is an independent non-government organization of more than 10,000 street vendors in Cebu City.
On the other hand, Rafael Tura, president of the Cebu Association of Tour Guides said the Sinulog Festival definitely gave the local tour guides more, if not enough, jobs to do.
“When hotels are filled, so are our tour guides with tourists. This is a busy month for us. We expect Sinulog tourists to stay longer and tour around neighboring islands like Bohol,” he told Sun.Star Cebu in a separate interview.
He said they are looking forward to other upcoming events that will bring in tourists to the province including the biggest of all, which is Cebu’s hosting of the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in December this year.
Asean summit
Earlier, Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Robert Go said the Asean summit will bring in more tourists to the province.
He said it is like an investment because the international event will make the province known to the global tourism market.
The summit, Go said, will make the five million tourists in the 2010 target of the Cebu Plus Tourism Roadmap attainable.
While tourism industry players are optimistic about the Asean summit, the vendors are not as “excited” because it will mean either their relocation or demolition, in the government’s effort to make the city look clean and orderly, CCUVA’s Buanghug said.
While vendors don’t object to that, she said they hope there will be a place for vendors to make a living once they are displaced. (ALC)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (January 17, 2006 issue)
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