Water sports enthusiasts are set to gather for the first Bacolod Watersports Festival 2024, a summer-long tourism event, which kicks off on March 15 at the Bacolod Baywalk Recreational Park.

Set along an 800-meter seafront at the city’s reclamation area, the festival will feature various water adventure activities for 24 days until April 28.

Among these are bancarera (boat race), beach volleyball, boat tug-of-war, paddling, banana boat race, kayaking, running man/bamboo drifting, swimming marathon and game fishing.

Ma. Kristina Alagaban, overall head of Bacolod Watersports Festival 2024 organized by the homegrown Almana Group, said on Wednesday they expect participants from other parts of the country to come to the festival.

“We have invited a lot of guests from other cities and provinces. Events like this steer economic and tourism development. This is the company’s way of contributing to the thrust of Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez to make Bacolod a super city,” she said.

Teams that have arrived for the maiden bancarera event on March 16 and 17 are teams from Siargao, Banate, Bohol, Boracay, Capiz and Cebu, and even from Malaysia.

Alagaban said the organizing committees are coordinating with the City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office, Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine National Police-Maritime Group, Bacolod City Police Office and other concerned agencies for the safe and secure staging of the festival.

On April 28, the closing and awarding ceremony will be capped by the “Coachella By The Bay” and a fireworks display. (PNA)