MORE than 200 Canadian and Filipino-Canadian bloggers are set to visit Kadayawan Village this week.
Davao City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO) community based eco-cultural organizer William Banzali told SunStar Davao that they have already made preparations for this visit.
“They informed us of their arrival a month before, so 15 days before, we already conducted meetings,” he said.
Banzali said the visitors learned of the Kadayawan Village after it was announced that the village gathered from 15,000 to 25,000 visitors during the Kadayawan season and became part of Asia’s Global Promotion for Tourism.
He said most of the comment they got from foreign tourists was “to treasure the area since the village is good for cultural showcase and also promotes the culture of peace.
Banzali said tourists from China, Korea, Japan, Solomon Islands, Israel, Italy, US, Germany, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Europe had been to Kadayawan Village in the past months.
The most number of tourists hail from Malaysia and Europe, usually social media bloggers and some Halal group advocates.
He said that peak months of visitors were in October, November, and first week of December.
When asked if such tourist’s arrival will stress the members of eleven tribes of the village, Banzali answered that they gave the instructions to the tribal villagers that it is the visitors that will adjust to them.
He said from the domestic tourist, most of their visitors are from the academe, peace advocates, and field trip goers from government offices, Department of Tourism-Davao, Local Government Units (LGUs) and barangays.
Banzali added that most of the reasons of tourists' visit to the area was for leisure, research, to familiarize with the Davao City’s tribe, to check why the tribes were united, to immerse with the different delicacies showcased by each tribe and also to check and study the structure of their houses. Some also visit the area to shoot for background for tourism materials.
According to Banzali their recent instruction to the tribe was to follow up and validate the tribe’s description in the tarpaulin’s posted per tribal house.
“We are validating the description, important details will only include the definition of the tribe, their origin and the source of living,” he said.