page_title: Samal, Davao del Norte
section_title: Tourism
hierarchical_section_title: Samal, Davao del Norte / Economy / Tourism
caption_attribution_description: Kaputian, Island Garden City of Samal, 8120 Davao del Norte, Philippines
context_page_description: Samal, officially the Island Garden City of Samal or sometimes called IGaCOS, is a 4th class city in the province of Davao del Norte, Philippines. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 104,123 people.
  It is made up of Samal Island and the smaller Talikud Island in the Davao Gulf, from the merger of former municipalities of Samal, Babak, and Kaputian.
  Samal is a part of the Metropolitan Davao area and is two kilometers away from Davao City, the largest city and the primary economic center of Mindanao.
context_section_description: The city is the largest resort city in the country. It has good beaches and houses many beach resorts. It has also numerous marine reefs and tranquil waters that lure the tourists to visit them, especially in Talikud Island. There are 34 registered resorts with a combined capacity of 1,000 rooms in the city. The most popular of these is the Pearl Farm Beach Resort, owned by Ms. Universe 1973 winner Margarita Moran. Because of these, the Department of Tourism named it one of the best visiting islands in Mindanao and currently one of the fastest growing tourist destinations in the country. Thus, tourism is the main source of income in the city. Biggest taxes are imposed to tourism and resort industry.
  There are three main festivals held annually in the city, namely: 
  Kabasan Festival, coincides with the founding of Babak municipality every year in May, features bikini open contests, fireworks display, street-dancing and street parties, and motocross events
  White Nights Festival, takes place every two days with Kaputian as the venue, celebrating the city's cultural and historical heritage; and
  Hugyaw Madayaw Festival, a spin-off of Davao's Kadayawan Festival which is also held annually in August, and also an attempt to preserve the diminishing Sama culture in the island.
  Monfort Bat Sanctuary, the world's largest fruit bat colony, is also located in the island.
caption: Beach in Kaputian, Samal Island
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