The Iloilo Festivals Foundation, Inc. (IFFI) is expecting a jam-packed celebration of this year’s Dinagyang Festival.
Joyce Clavecillas, IFFI executive director, said that almost all hotel-members of the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) Alliance are already fully booked for the three-day highlights of Dinagyang
The celebration of the world-renowned festival will officially kick off on Jan. 13 with highlights scheduled on January 20 to 22.
In January 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the Department of Tourism (DOT) registered more or less 100,000 visitors in the city.
“We are expecting to have a similar number or even more,” said Clavecillas.
“We are still encouraging our guests to still wear face masks, especially if they see that the area is crowded,” she added.
Meanwhile, Clavecillas disclsoed that IFFI is now 90 to 95 percent done with preparations for the “grandest” staging of the festival.
“Hopefully we can deliver a good presentation come Jan. 13-22. The first day of course is Jan. 13 when we have the opening salvo where barangay and ILOmination tribes will give a glimpse of their performances at the Iloilo Freedom Grandstand,” she said.
Dinagyang is a religious and cultural festival. It is held every year on the fourth Sunday of January.IMT
