Expect Lapu-Lapu City to be busy in the coming months.

This after the it plays host to different exciting sporting events through its newly formed Lapu-Lapu City Sports and Events Bureau, which was launched Saturday at the Lapu-Lapu Shrine.

Lapu-Lapu City, which has been the favorite venue for several sporting events in the past, hopes to establish itself as the sports tourism hub in the south.

“We have been planning this for a very long time,” said Lapu-Lapu City first lady Paz Radaza, who believes that the time has come for them to adopt sports tourism as a long term thrust with the help of the different major hotels and resorts, which will take turns in hosting a sporting events.

“To jumpstart our sports tourism drive, we are creating the Lapu-Lapu Sports and Events Bureau to be jointly managed by public and private sector representatives,” Radaza said.

The general managers of the different hotels and resorts are throwing in their full support of the city’s move to target a new niche in tourism and are willing to host different kinds of sports activities within and outside their properties.

“We are excited with this project. We will be hosting the first major event of the bureau, which is the half marathon this coming July,” said Waterfront Airport Casino Hotel General Manager Hembler Mendoza.

The first project of the bureau will be a half marathon dubbed “The Great Lapu-Lapu Run,” which is set July 21.

Shangrila Resort and Spa, on the other hand, is eyeing to host the International Dragon boat competition, while Plantation Bay will host a golf tournament.

The other sporting events that are prepared for this year are bili-bili race, wakeboarding, triatlhon, international beach volleyball, among others.