Pearl Award to spark more interest in Iloilo Dinagyang Festival

• Published date: 28 October 2022
• Publication title: Philippines News agency

The award conferred to the Iloilo Dinagyang Festival 2020 is expected to spark the interest of those who have not experienced the celebration yet.

Iloilo's Dinagyang Festival 2020 was recognized as the grand champion in the Best Tourism Event (Festival) As Contemporary/Non-Traditional Expression category during the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (ATOP) Pearl Award held in Tagaytay City on Thursday.

The competition was opened to festivals held from late 2019 until 2020 since there was no ATOP award for that period due to travel restrictions because of the health pandemic.

Joyce Clavecillas, executive director of the Iloilo Festivals Foundation, Inc. (IFFI), one of the organizers of the event, said they saw it fit to join the Best Tourism Event (Festival) As Contemporary/Non-Traditional Expression category because the festival is evolving.

'Actually, (the) Dinagyang Festival is already multi-faceted. We have religious, we have cultural aspect, we have the food, we have sports events embedded in the festival. That's why we joined this category because we saw it fit,' she said in an interview on Friday.

She noted that because the Pearl Award...