BUTUAN CITY – Preparations are underway for the 2023 Siargao International Surfing Tournament, dubbed as the most exciting and thrilling sea sporting event of the year, at Cloud 9 in the country’s surfing capital, General Luna, Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte, from October 25 to 31.
General Luna officials led by Mayor Sol F. Matugas, the former governor of Surigao del Norte, Rep. Francisco Jose “Bingo” F. Matugas II, and the technical and operations staff of the Department of Tourism-13 led by Regional Director Ivonnie B. Dumadag have started their round-table meetings in General Luna town for the success of this big seawater sporting event.
The workforce and benefactors of this event are considering daily and nightly events to entertain surfers and tourists during their stay on the island.
“We are preparing to make this world sporting event here in our beautiful island a successful one,” Matugas said.
Some international and local surfers have arrived in General Luna to test the surfing area at Cloud 9.
Tourists arrivals in Siargao Island, particularly General Luna, have increased to almost 1,000 daily after a two-year hiatus caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
These tourists were from the United States, Portugal, United Kingdom, Australia, Israel, and other Asian and European countries.
The Caraga region had 4,433,537 tourist arrivals from 2018 to 2022, the DOT-13 said.
In 2022, Caraga had 706,677 tourist arrival, almost double the previous year with 377,441.
The DOT-13 said 692,515 were domestic while 14,162 were foreign tourists in 2022.
“We are really expecting to spike the tourist arrivals before the end of this year, especially this fast-approaching world surfing cup,” said DOT-13 Tourism Operations Officer Kylee Doreene Q. Plaza.