Dinagyang Festival is a premiere event. Tourists from around the country and the world flock Iloilo City yearly every January to witness the spectacle and enjoy the revelry. Its evolution has become synonymous with the city’s growth on a macro scale, that is, if the basis would be the booming real estate and mall ventures where the moneyed get to enjoy the perks. 

A decade back, a hotel reservation during Dinagyang season would be a walk on the park. Today, even accommodations that charge enormous super peak rates are fully-booked. Needless to say, the city is full this month with the tourism industry benefiting the most. 

Each mall and other major commercial establishments have their way of promotions enticing a number of people to come and stay and of course spend. 

Those who are engaged in the business of designing festival costumes are enjoying the peak of times as tribes and non-competing groups rush to earn the millions of cash prizes at stake and the bigger marketing opportunities to showcase their interests. 

No doubt, the concept of Dinagyang 360 this year is again another hit business and tourism-wise. However, this is also the best time to look inwards. 

Can the city hold these people flooding its streets and restaurants after the festival? While the city government has recently launched the “Meet You in Iloilo” MICE campaign to entice more activities in the city, it must be stressed that the real game for tourism is sustainability. 

Will these tourists come back immediately and enjoy the city? Other than Dinagyang Festival and a few more religious and cultural events in the city, what will make people come back and stay a little longer aside from the delectable cuisine that it is known for?

Sustainability means enabling the grassroots to enjoy the economic advantages that the tourism industry can bring in. Iloilo City has a potential pottery craft thriving but dying at the same time in Mandurriao district. In several cultural gatherings, it can be observed that instead of the local pottery products, fake porcelains are sold which are also prominent and exactly the same items being displayed in other cities. 

In Brgy. Sooc, a group of individuals were organized by the city government to produce crafts out of the recycled items from Calajunan dumpsite. They export their tetra bags and other products to Japan but a closer look at their workplace and their display area at the second level of the Mandurriao Public market would show the miserable support they are receiving from the government. 

Filipinos love coffee and coffee tastes better with kakanin. Kakanin is something that is certainly a part of Iloilo’s heritage. A look however at a few places in Lapaz district where the old people prepare and produce their products to be sold to the markets and several coffee shops around the city would show the utter lack of support so that it can thrive to be more sustainable and presentable. Observing the production areas of these few individuals would make someone doubt if it is best for consumption. 

And there are still a lot of grassroot economies that can complement the growth of the tourism industry in the city. Yet it is apparent that they have been left out in the city government’s tourism map and programs. Perhaps, unintended as everybody seems too busy working on the grand programs without realizing that tourism is actually beyond all these grand events.

As they say, we are Dinagyang. So are the marginalized. They need to enjoy tourism and Dinagyang on a day to day basis with emphasis on having to eat three times a day and not only during festivals.