THE Davao City Tourism Operations Office (CTOO) on Monday revealed that the unity of people, the 11 tribes, and the established culture of security in Davao City were the major factors the 38th Kadayawan Festival won in a recent national tourism tilt.
On October 10, 2024, the 38th Kadayawan Festival was adjudged champion during the nationwide Pearl Awards, organized by the Association of Tourism Operators of the Philippines. The award was given during the Atop's national convention held in South Cotabato.
"This is just a validation of hardwork, our commitment in the City Government to really improve our events in the city. It validates that our Kadayawan is really unique and distinct as we highlight the 11 tribes. We also highlighted our culture of security because the festival won't happen and become successful if not for the security and safety cluster," Jennifer Romero, the CTOO chief said in an interview after the weekly flag ceremony on Monday.
She added that to vie for the competition, CTOO sent the festival's post-evaluation report, including the best practices and things to improve on.
She said that the Kadayawan Festival emerged as winner over the Gong Festival of Baguio, which was named first-runner up and the Dinagyang Festival of Iloilo that won the second-runner up award. This is under the Best Cultural Festival for the Highly-Urbanized Cities Category.
Romero said that this is not the first time that the city's Kadayawan Festival got an award under the same category. In 2017, the Kadayawan Festival was second place under the same category. CIO