TOURIST HAVEN. The sandbar of Higatangan Island in Naval, Biliran. The island is all set for its annual summer event that is expected to draw at least 5,000 tourists from April 5 to 7, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Naval local government)
TACLOBAN CITY – Higatangan Island in Naval, Biliran is all set for its annual summer event that will draw at least 5,000 tourists over the weekend.
Visitors from Biliran province and neighboring provinces are expected to flock to Higatangan on April 5 to 7 to enjoy the various activities lined up for the annual event, Mayor Gretchen Espina said.
“We are doing this festival for people to see Higatangan. Our main goal is to convince people to visit the island any time of the year,” Espina told reporters in a virtual press briefing Thursday.
Among the activities this weekend are concerts, street party, adventure race, beauty pageant, kayaking competition, hammock festival, movie night, fire dance, bike race, dance festival, Zumba dancing, basketball tournament, food festival, cooking competition, vlogging competition, banca painting, kite flying, video making contest, tattoo fest, beach volleyball, boat race, frisbee tournament, fishing tournament, and bodybuilding competition.
Part of the preparation of Naval town is to train residents from the island's two villages to open their doors and rooms to accommodate guests for homestays.
Fifteen household owners from Higatangan Island participated in the seven-day homestay training of the Department of Tourism (DOT) last month. They were joined by 11 homeowners from the nearby island town of Maripipi.
In the absence of accommodation facilities like hotels and resorts, homestays play a pivotal role in the country’s tourism industry, allowing tourists to have authentic experiences of the local culture, traditions, and way of life.
“We held homestay training in Higatangan to address the lack of accommodation facilities on the island,” Espina shared.
The island has lodging houses, but the number of rooms is not yet enough to cater to the influx of visiting tourists during the summer festival.
Higatangan is an island within Naval, the capital town of Biliran province. It has two villages, Mabini and Libertad, with a population of around 2,000 people.
The island is popular for its shifting sandbar — the only sandbar on Biliran Island, the “Capilla del Mar,” an underwater chapel with a 12-foot cross and eight benches that represent the eight municipalities of the province; a cliff diving spot, and areas suitable for scuba diving.
Other activities that tourists may do on the island include the manta tow, cycling around the circumferential road of the island, a trek to the lighthouse located at the highest point of Higatangan, and sunrise and sunset watching.
The island’s summer festival, which started in 2017, is the biggest summer event in Biliran province.
It was the brainchild of then-Naval Mayor and now-Governor Gerard Roger Espina to boost tourism.
For this year’s HisFest, the local government encourages guests and tourists to visit the LGU Naval Facebook account and download the link for online registration.
The registration link comes with guides to the event details, including reminders.
Espina said that through registration, they will be able to monitor the number of tourists joining the two-day event and those who are still staying on the island after the event.
The opening of this year’s summer festival is on April 5, and the main events are on April 6 and 7. (PNA)
