Sandurot Festival Featured in 1st Philippine Costume Expo

Dumaguete City (PIA) – The city’s Sandurot Festival gets an exposure to Western Visayas tourism market as it gets featured in the recently held 1st Philippine Festival Costume Expo and 3rd Iloilo Travel Mart in Iloilo City.

The 1st Philippine Festival Costume Expo is one of the highlight events during the Dinagyang Festival on January 23-25. It aims to present various costumes of the different festivals around the country and exhibit local heritage, culture and design.

Some 17 festivals all over the country were featured in the expo including Dumaguete’s Sandurot Festival. Sandurot Festival is an annual celebration in honor of the city’s patron saint, St. Catherine of Alexandria.

Aside from this, the festival also depicts a part of Dumaguete’s early history where local maidens were being snatched by Moro pirates. This is the popular “Daguit” narrative. “Daguit” is a local word that means “to snatch.” It is also the term where the city got its name.

The Dumaguete City Tourism office also took the opportunity to introduce and promote the city’s top tourist destinations, attractions, products, activities and services to foreign and local visitors who were at the expo.

“Dumaguete city continues to be aggressive on travel mart participation and any forms of positive publicity the city may acquire as this increases exposure to domestic and foreign tourist market contributing to the marketability and desirability of the city as we work along with our Mayor’s vision in making Dumaguete the most livable city for everyone,” City Tourism Officer Woodrow Maquiling Jr. said.

The 1st Philippine Festival Costume Expo was organized by Iloilo Dinagyang Foundation. Inc. (IDFI) and the City Tourism & Development Office (CTDO) in cooperation with the Department of Tourism Region VI (DOT 6) and the Iloilo Tourism Officers Association (ITOA). (mbcn/ral/PIA7-NegOr/with reports from KTAguilar of Dumaguete City Tourism Office)