GUMASA, Glan, Sarangani, Philippines (PIA) – The province of Sarangani’s yearly tribute to the protected seascape – the Sarangani Bay – features a sand sculpture competition and sports activities slated from May 19 to 21.

Provincial officials said sand sculpture competition goes along with the yearly celebration, where artists and spectators will have a chance to play with Gumasa white sands more closely.

The village has at least seven kilometers of white sand shoreline, tourist-ready resorts, and trails.

For mountain trekkers, the Sulyang Trail offers a spectacular view of the whole white sand stretch.

“This is an open competition and we’ll accommodate 10 entries during the day,” organizer Quinn Villaruel said.

Sand sculpture competition will start from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the second day at the Rosal Beach.

Sarangani is accessible by plane and ferry from Manila and Cebu through the General Santos City’s international airport and seaport.

From Davao City, it is accessible through land transportation via public utility vans and buses to General Santos City.

When in General Santos, a tourist can take a van with its terminal at the KCC Mall to the Glan Poblacion.

Organizers said Glan is 53 kilometers from General Santos City, while the Provincial Capitol in Alabel, the province’s capital town, is about 11 kilometers from the city so that on the road to Glan, you can see the Capitol building by the highway.

From the Glan proper, enjoy the rough ride to Gumasa by riding the habal-habal (improvised motorcycle).

Gumasa is about six kilometers from the town proper.

Gumasa has seven connecting white sand beach resorts.

The Sarangani Tourism Office said these are tourist-ready resorts but there are other small resorts along the shores in Gumasa that can somehow accommodate tourists.

By the end of April, these big resorts were already fully booked for the Sarangani Bay Festival.

Meanwhile, event organizers anticipate the influx of tourists as all preparations were set for the May 19 to 21 Sarangani Bay Festival.

“Last year, we had 20,000 guests and we are expecting a lot more this time,” Sarangani Gov. Migs Dominguez said earlier.

While Sarangani investment officer-in-charge Milbie Guiang-Daguro reported that tourist arrivals have been notably increasing every year and the resort industry was expanding to accommodate the influx of tourists especially during Sarangani Bay festivals.

Dominguez said this is where the “return of investments” in the tourism sector was noted for where expansions adhere to the standards of the Department of Tourism.

Dominguez said this means that Sarangani has been successful in its promotion of making the province a tourism destination apart from making Glan as “the convention destination for Mindanao in the future.”

Glan will be hosting the First National Mango Congress in September, he added.

The governor said the challenge of Sarangani from the very beginning is “to market and put (our) best foot forward” where he identified Gumasa as the best foot of Sarangani especially for summer activities.

“We have witnessed the growth of Sarangani all towards the development of its tourism industry,” he said, where the provincial government invested for its promotion to eventually gain the support of the private sector.

“At least we can proudly say that our partnership with the private sector has indeed blossomed in a span of time,” he said. (With a report from the Sarangani Information Office)