THE best of Bicol products and the pageantry of its festivals will be featured anew with this year’s edition of DOT’s “Gayon Bikol Fiesta” back to back with DTI’s Orgullo Kan Bicol (OK Bicol)” at the Megatrade Hall of SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City come October 11-14.

        Dubbed “Gayon Bikol sa OK Bikol”, the combined regional trade fair and festival aims to create awareness of what Bicol can offer in terms of tourism destinations, as well as products and services made and available in the region’s six provinces and 7 cities. It also hopes to establish market linkages with players in the travel industry and trade buyers and investors and boost Bicol’s potential for tourism, trade and investment, Bicol Regional Tourism Director Maria O. Ravanilla said.

        Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano and Trade Secretary Peter Favila will join all Bicolano senators and congressmen, governors and city mayors during the opening rites at 5th Level, Building B, of SM Megamall on Thursday, October 11.

        DTI Bicol Regional Director Jocelyn L.B. Blanco will give the opening remarks while the keynote speech will be delivered by Camarines Sur Gov, Luis Raymund Villafuerte, chair of the Bicol Regional Development Council.

        Bicolana diva Carmen Camacho who hails from Catanduanes has been invited to render the famous Bicol song, “Sarung Banggui” before the short message by Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay, chair of Gayon Bicol Fiesta.

        A colorful entrance arc and stage have been commissioned to be designed and constructed by the Province of Camarines Norte, winner of the Best Booth provincial category (out of 380 competing booths) during the recently-concluded 18th Philippine Travel Mart, the country’s longest-running, most dynamic domestic and in-bound travel and tourism show, which was also held at SM Megamall last September 7-9, 2007.

        Each province will showcase its best destinations and festivals through a mixed array of trade fair and exhibits, cultural shows and live band and dance entertainment featuring Bicolano artists and celebrities.

        Camarines Sur will feature its “Kaogma Festival” and showcase the famous CamSur Watersports Complex; Albay its majestic Mayon Volcano; Sorsogon its Pili Festival; Masbate its Rodeo Festival; Catanduanes its Puraran Surfing site, and; Camarines Norte, its world-famous Bagasbas Beach Surfing site. Also to be featured is the Bacon-Manito Geothermal Eco-Park and Tabaco City’s Padyak Festival.

        The respective LGUs likewise will topbill their “One Town, One Product (OTOP) showcase for the regional trade fair.

        Other featured Bicolano artists during the 4-day cultural fair are: Salbakuta, Carmen Camacho and CamSur’s Bicol Heritage Cultural Dance Troupe on Oct. 11; Asia’s Elvis Presley Edgar Opida and Blackjack on Oct. 12; Naga City’s Pork Barrel Band on Oct. 12; top magician Lou Hilario of Albay and Sorsogon Cultural Dance Troupe on Oct. 13, and; Pamana Foundation Cultural Dance Troupe and Naga City’s “Just Between Friends” Band on Oct. 14.

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        Tourism arrival statistics in Bicol, especially in Naga City and Camarines Sur combined continue to show bright prospects. Where Naga/Camarines Sur registered a total of 258,608 visitors from January to December 2006, outclassing for the first time the Albay/Legazpi tandem (which garnered 133,440 during the same period), the premier Bicol city and province are jointly nearing to breach that mark in just six months, posting 211,180 tourist arrivals for the period January to June 2007 alone. A remarkable increase of 82.49% and a continuing improvement over last year’s 79% as against its 2005 figure. The regional office of the Department of Tourism attributed the increase to the full operation of the CamSur Watersports Complex at the provincial capitol and the sustained tourism intervention program of the Naga city government. These tourism intervention programs include the city’s initiatives to invite national and international civic groups, cultural bodies, and other private organizations and LGUs to conduct their conferences, seminars, medical missions, and study tours, among others, with Naga City as host. Early this year, Naga City hosted the 8,000-strong 3-day International Youth Conference of the Couples for Christ at the expansive Metro Naga Sports Complex. It played host for 30-days in summer to some 18 students from the University of British Columbia, Canada who were here for their overseas study module with city hall and the city at large as their laboratory for city management and good governance. City hall also calendared at least one regional conference for each month. The Philippine Symphony Orchestra concert tentatively set here in October 2007 had been temporarily shelved following controversies that erupted at the National Commission on Culture and the Arts, which could prove to be another crowd drawer as we had when Naga hosted the First International Robndalla Festival in 2004. The Penafrancia fiesta remains to be the traditional biggest drawer of visitors, rendering all hotels in the city and environs fully booked for over a week each year. As a result, more new hotels continue to sprout, beckoning more visitors to come and visit.