WITH festivals and other events held in Tagum City, new hotels and hotel rooms are needed to accommodate the growing number of tourists coming to the city.
“Daghan tawo gusto na muadto sa Tagum because we have spaces, naay mga convention na dili sila makabayad, it's expensive to rent... we have the atrium and in the province we have the air conditioned gym, daghan mi mga spaces like the theater, so mga uban decided to go there (Many people would want to go to Tagum, there are free convention facilities, we have the atrium and the province has the air conditioned gym. We have so many spaces like the theater, so others decided to go there),” Tagum City Tourism Arts and Council president Alma Uy said.
However, the city suffers from a lack of hotel rooms for its guests. There are less than 800 hotel rooms in the City that are Department of Tourism accredited.
“If someone is listening. Please invest in hotel. We really lack hotels there,” Uy said during the PEP Talks at SM Lanang Premier mall on Tuesday, January 31 to promote the Musikahan Festival.
She also wished that the city could have at least a hotel with a three-star rating.
During festivals with the influx of visitors, the city government would resort to the homestay for its guests.
“When we hosted the International Rondalla Festival due to so many guests we identified homes willing to host just to accommodate the visitors,” Uy recalls.
Uy said they need hotels and hotel rooms because they have a series of festivals that will be held in Tagum City.
She said for the Musikahan Festival, when they asked the hotels for rooms, they replied that they were already full.
The 20th Musikahan sa Tagum Festival 2023 is the largest music festival in the region. Slated to be held on Feb 16-19 it aims to bring together hundreds of music artists, choral groups, string ensembles, and contemporary show bands from all over the country.
Musikahan is one of the 11 festivals which is being held in the city dubbed as the City of Festivals. Among these festivals include Durian Festival, Indayog Festival, Kaimunan Festival, Paskohan sa Tagum, Araw ng Tagum, Sports Fest, Pakaradyan, Kulenaria Fiesta, Earth Festival and the Binuhat Festival. PIA