By ERWIN MASCARIÑAS
Correspondent .
OVER 52 thousand people trooped to the heart of Tangub City to witness the opening of the “Christmas Symbol Festival” on Saturday, the local tourism office said.
Tangub officials expect thousands more, and are optimistic the city would break its 2016 record in terms of number of visitors.
“This year, we are looking forward to a bigger Christmas Symbol Festival in terms of the number of visitors and tourist arrivals. We are expecting the figure to rise especially with the Christmas vacation days from now,” said Baby Balatero-Paler, Tangub’s tourism officer.
Paler said there was a decline in the number of tourists in Tangub during the same period last year as a result of the Marawi siege and the resulting travel advisories on Mindanao.
From Dec. 1, 2017 to Jan. 8, 2018, Tangub registered 332,197 visitors, a far cry from the 678,514 tourists it had during the same time in 2016, said Paler.
All around the Tangub city plaza now are 16 lighted structures, mostly made of recycled materials, that illuminate the area. These were designed to showcase some of the popular landmarks in the world.
Twenty-eight barangays are competing for the best lantern and prizes are up for grabs for the best lighted barangay and best lighted house.
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