Managing sustainabled destination event tourism : the catanduanes reef break experience

Catanduanes Reef Break (CRB), a surfing competition and festival that offers a variety of activities, is one of the annual highlights in Catanduanes, Philippines. It aims to generate funds that would enable local surfers to buy good quality surfboards and gears, fund their travel expenses during competitions, and foster, develop, and promote a sustainable tourism industry in Catanduanes. When Genesis Efondo was given the task to manage the festival, he knew well that this will involve a lot of logistics and security challenges, among others. Genesis was also at the marketing front of the festival, attempting to identify who their main target market was among two current ones: locals of Baras and Virac and people from outside Catanduanes. In this case, the story of how CRB came to be, what its current status is, how Genesis plans to organize the annual event are narrated and discussed. Key words: Catanduanes, surfing, sustainable tourism, destination event tourism