CEBU CITY -- Hotels in the city are about 80 percent booked for the Chinese New Year, said Acting Mayor Joy Augustus Young.
This is good news for the City Government, which is organizing the 1st Annual Xin Nian: Cebu Chinese New Year Festival on February 5.
Chinese New Year is on February 3, but Young said the Cebu City Tourism Council (CCTC) does not want to compete with family celebrations.
Young ordered his staff on Monday to hang promotional streamers in key areas for the festival, which will be held at the Ayala Terraces.
During the event, there will also be a food festival at the Ayala Terraces to be participated in by Chinese restaurants.
Young proposed, though, that hotels and restaurants should stop imposing additional charges, like service charge, on customers to make Cebu more tourist-friendly.
He said that while Cebu has many attractions, which are near business and commercial centers, many tourists have been complaining about high hotel and resort rates.
He said he has asked City Councilor Margarita Osmeña to file an ordinance on the matter.
The acting mayor also lamented that airlines have not extended their Chinese New Year promotional trips to Cebu.
Some airlines offer discounted fares for those who want to celebrate the Chinese New Year in Hong Kong.
Now that the city is organizing a Chinese New Year celebration, Young said Cebuanos do not have to go overseas to celebrate the event.
He said the festival is not as big as Sinulog, but he wants to improve it next year.
The Sinulog cost about P14 million while the budget for the Chinese New Year Festival is only P300,000.
Young said Cebuanos in other parts of the world wait for the Sinulog to come home. Having more festivals could mean Cebuanos in foreign lands have more reasons to come home, he added.
There are still six more festivals eyed by the CCTC.
"The Chinese New Year Festival would be a winner because, for one, more than half of the world is Chinese. And since it is already celebrated, we just have to package it," said Young.
Aside from the food fest, the festival will also feature popular Chinese dances, like the ribbon, lion and dragon dances. (JGA/With SWU Intern Maxmillah Matoke/Sun.Star Cebu)
