ILOILO City – This city is positioning its newly redeveloped public markets not just as trading hubs but as full-fledged tourist destinations, with City Hall eyeing market tourism as a key economic pillar for 2026, Mayor Raisa Treñas said following a string of high-profile market reopenings.
The strategy gained momentum with the opening of the La Paz Public Market this week, capping a series of market upgrades that began in October, including the Public–Private Partnership redevelopments of the Iloilo Terminal Market and the Iloilo Central Market. According to Treñas, the renewed facilities have triggered a surge in both visitors and vendor income.
“It was a very successful opening. Almost everyone we know now wants to go to Central and Terminal, they have really upgraded,” the mayor said.
Treñas said the City Government, through the Local Economic Enterprise Office, is now deliberately promoting public markets as tourism assets, capitalizing on the strong demand for local food products and pasalubong items.
“We are making sure to maintain our public markets because we are seeing that this is one of our tourist spot attractions that we can highlight, our market tourism,” she said.
The mayor cited firsthand observations of how tourism traffic is translating into real gains for vendors.
“You’d be surprised the stores ran out of dried fish because tourist vans were coming in. Boxes were already on the floor waiting to be picked up. We are now seeing our goal and our dream of helping our vendors,” Treñas said.
Beyond infrastructure upgrades, the mayor stressed that the city’s market redevelopment program is anchored on vendor capacity-building, particularly through the Uswag Negosyo Academy, a training initiative launched in 2022.
“Our vendors have improved — even their displays look better. They now have branding. The fish section already has vacuum-sealed products,” she said.
Treñas added that vendor participation in training programs was mandatory before being allowed to return to the newly rehabilitated markets.
“Why redevelop our markets if we do not help our vendors first? We really equipped them with proper training,” she said.
She said the city conducted extensive training sessions under the Sige Asenso Program to ensure vendors were prepared ahead of reopening.
“If our market is upgraded, at least the learning of our vendors must also be upgraded,” Treñas added, underscoring that market tourism will remain a cornerstone of Iloilo City’s development agenda in 2026./PN
