DAVAO CITY – Despite the threat of 2019 coronavirus disease (Covid-19), the City of Mati in Davao Oriental will push through its summer fun activities come April to June 2020.
Mati City Information Officer Ben Jason Tesiorna said Wednesday the City Tourism Office and the Tourism Events have decided to push through with the scheduled activities after the Department of Health (DOH), the Department of Tourism (DOT), and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) jointly issued a statement allowing public gatherings or conventions provided they strictly follow health safety protocols.
“There is a scheduled meeting with the Incident Management Team (IMT) headed by the City Health Office (CHO) about the precautionary measures in handling big events,” Tesiorna told Philippine News Agency (PNA).
Tourism Officer Dashiel Indelible Jr. said they will be strictly enforcing the guidelines from DOH with regards to Covid-19.
At the moment, Indelible said they are constantly reminding all tourism-related enterprises in the city to also conduct their own measures to prevent the possible spread of Covid-19 and the protection not just of their visitors but their workers as well.
He said the city's "summer fun" activities will kick off with the Holy Week celebration on April 9. Other activities lined up for the months-long summer events include the skimboarding competition, frisbee competition, arts fest, beach volley, dance battle, dive Safari, dagan-sikad-Langoy and battle of the bands.
Tesiorna noted that tourist arrivals in Mati City have been in constant rise especially during the summer season due to various activities from both the local government and the private sector.
In January last year, about 15,426 tourist arrivals were recorded in the city while for the same period this year tourist arrivals have already reached 18,124.
A total of 272,400 tourist arrivals were recorded in 2019. (PNA)
