BACOLOD CITY – The Department of Tourism (DOT) 6 (Western Visayas) has been assisting local government units (LGUs) in Negros Occidental in improving the staging of its annual festivals, which are major tourism attractions in the province.
DOT-6 Administrative Officer Artemio Ticar said although Negros Occidental is “strong” in terms of holding festivals, its cities and municipalities need to improve their knowledge and skills in managing such tourism activities.
The Festival Management Seminar was attended by about 50 participants, mostly tourism officers and personnel, from various LGUs. The training is being held at the L’Fisher Chalet from Sept. 24 to 26.
Festivals are not only about dance competitions or a showcase of different tribes, said Ticar, who is the designated tourism area development head for Negros Occidental — one of the country’s major festival destinations.
He added that other aspects of managing a festival include food handling, gender sensitivity, safety and security of the guests, and accommodation.
Some localities in the province seem to have forgotten the “protocols” in handling festivals, he noted.
The seminar’s main speaker is Jaime Antonio Jr., a resource person for culture and governance, cultural festival management, culture mapping and profiling, and member of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts Speakers Bureau.
Cristine Mansinares, provincial supervising tourism operations officer, said the seminar is part of the initiatives under the DOT’s Tourism Industry Skills Program (TISP).
The TISP seeks to empower industry workers to provide quality service leading to customer satisfaction, meet services standards, increase employment in the tourism sector, improve income opportunities, and increase competitiveness of the country’s tourism industry.
Mansinares said the seminar focuses on local culture profiling, festival concept making, aesthetics, stakeholders analysis, gender analysis, festival organizing roles and responsibilities, cost benefit analysis and budgeting, cultural festival best practices, documentation, monitoring and evaluation, and report writing.
Negros Occidental is the only province in Western Visayas that has a variety of festivals in every city and municipality, Ticar added.
Panaad sa Negros Festival, dubbed as the province’s “Festival of all Festivals”, became a Hall of Fame awardee for Best Tourism Event Festival Category of the DOT and Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines’ Pearl Awards last year.
Performers in Negros Occidental’s festivals, such as the Pinta Flores Festival of San Carlos City, Bailes de Luces Festival of La Castellana, and MassKara Festival of Bacolod City have been invited to various national and international events. (Erwin Nicavera/PNA)
