DAVAO City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio ordered to start the promotion of the Kadayawan Festival 2017 on the first week of July.
City Mayor's Office (CMO) chief-of-staff lawyer Raul Nadela said that the mayor wants a longer time to promote Kadayawan to attract tourists.
"The mayor wants to make the Kadayawan vibe (be felt) starting July 1," he said.
Nadela said that the entire committee already had two meetings and they intend to have everything in place next week.
"Nagpaplantsang security preparations, there will be considerations for the venue of the events for safer security…but the same kind of events will go as usual," he added.
He assured that the essence of the Kadayawan will not be sacrificed despite the stricter security implementation in line with the Martial Law.
Nadela said that banners and promotional materials for the Kadayawan will also be installed starting the first day of July.
Davao City Tourism Operations Office officer-in-charge Generose Tecson said hotels suffered the most with P18-million loss due to cancellations of room bookings and conferences.
The tour operators, transport sector, and restaurants lost P2 million.
Tecson said that it is a natural reaction to the declaration of Martial Law, saying that the tourism sector is optimistic that the trend will change in the coming weeks.