Kadayawan blues
I heard from a reliable source in the travel industry that the organizers of the Kadayawan sa Dabaw are seriously considering moving the festival’s dates! This is going to be a huge mistake, if it happens. Philippine festivals are probably our #1 tourist attraction: that is, it’s our best way of pulling tourist arrivals. What does this mean? Simple: visitors to Davao, especially those who come for Kadayawan, plan their vacations way ahead of August.
To those who know the business of tourism, this development is unconscionable. My source (who asked to remain anonymous) tells me that City Hall has allegedly appointed the city agriculture office to handle the festivities. The logic behind this, apparently, is that the Kadayawan is all about the harvest bounty, ergo have the agriculture people organize Davao’s most popular event. Duhh!!
The Kadayawan Foundation is reportedly no longer in existence, hence the executive department’s move to relegate the festival to an agency that probably has no experience in managing — much less promoting — tourism-related events. It’s not yet official, but the new dates of the Kadayawan will be from 9 to 18 August 2007. The Kadayawan, as most people who watch out for it know, is celebrated in the middle of August.
So what of those visitors who have already booked their flights? Especially, those who’ve bought a certain airline’s P1 plane tickets? Those are non-rebookable, non-refundable. What of our guests who have already made hotel and tour reservations?
If the Kadayawan is moved to a different set of dates, it will be a disaster. It will give Davao another kind of negative image. I hope that City Hall will realize this before it’s too late.
May 28th, 2007 at 4:51 am
Hey blogie thank God you told me about this. Nakakainis talaga my vacations are planned ahead of time even booked for my accomodations and some side trips around the Phils after the Kadawayan ( which by the way is usually celebrated on the 3rd week of August)
I dont know what got into minds of the “mastermind” behind changing the dates for this years Kadawayawan celebration. But this is crazy and he/she is CRAZY!!!!
May 30th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
If this will happen, it will be a total disaster for Davao Tourism.
May 30th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
I just hope the people at City Hall will realize the hugely negative effects we will feel if they continue their plan.
June 1st, 2007 at 7:18 am
Another STUPID move of Davao’s local government…halllerrrrr! STUPIDITY!
June 9th, 2007 at 1:08 am
I grew up in davao and I’ve never attended even just one festival while I was there and now that I decided to witness it myself and will bring some friends too, having booked our tickets already - it will be really a disappointment if it will be moved. Please try to lobby it with them, if you can…
June 9th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
It seems that City Hall has recapitulated — they’ve probably realized the huge mistake they were going to make. At last report, I was told that the Kadayawan festival will proceed as before, same dates, but will start earlier. Meaning, it will be a longer celebration. The highlights, however, will be on the same dates (around the 18th of August) as usual. I’ll post another article on this as soon as I get more information.
June 24th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Hi! Any updates on final Kadayawan dates??? I’m booking my plane tickets now and would appreciate it if anyone could give me an update on the festival dates.
Thanks!!!
June 24th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Hello Deng. I don’t have the final details yet, but I got word from City Hall that the Kadayawan festival will be celebrated according to traditional schedules. I heard that the start date will be earlier, but that the highlights will still be during the 2nd week of August as usual. I’ll try to post the actual schedule here as soon as I have it.
June 24th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
Ey thanks so much! But what’s the traditional schedule? Sorry for this is my first time so I have really no idea pretty much. And when is the main/big parade held usually? Thanks so much again, this blog is a huge help. Keep it up!
June 30th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
I just recently discovered your blog and read about our “wonderful” city government’s plan of changing the dates of the incoming Kadayawan festival. Any updates on this?
I hope it will fall on the same dates, coz it’s one of the reasons why I’m coming home every August in dAVAO.
Nice blogs.I find it informative.
July 2nd, 2007 at 4:05 pm
@shopgrl — thanks for the compliment!
re: kadayawan sked, unfortunately, i haven’t received any new info yet. i’ve been trying to request for the sked from the city gov’t but no such luck. i hope to be able to write about the festival again in more detail soon…
August 5th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
This will be my first time to attend the festival. My spouse was born in Davao but we live in Manila. So will someone please tell me what the original dates were and what the actual dates will be this year 2007.
Thanks
August 5th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Hello Imelda! The original dates of the highlights of the Kadayawan festival have always been the middle of August. This year there were plans of moving it to the first week, but that has been junked already. So the schedule that you can see in my newer post is the final schedule.
August 6th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
[...] probably explains the knee-jerk reaction by this year’s organizers — their unexpected move to change the festival’s [...]