Tourist arrivals boost Baguio’s economy in December

MANILA: Last December, a total of 147,145 tourists visited Baguio City, bringing in revenues for companies and increasing job opportunities.

In a statement, Baguio City Tourism Supervising Officer Engr. Aloysius Mapalo said, “May ilan na establishment na nag-hire ng additional workers para ma-serve nang maayos ang customers nila (There were some establishments who hired additional workers so that they can provide good service to their customers).”

According to Mapalo, several employees of the establishments have left the city and relocated to the provinces, enabling the hiring of additional manpower who are unemployed and whose services are needed by tourism-related enterprises.

“Marami ang natulungan ng pagdating ng mga turista noong holiday season (The arrival of tourists during the holidays helped a lot of people). We hope that 2022 will be better in terms of gross receipts,” Mapalo added.

Tourist arrival data is acquired from the city’s triage facility, where tourists who got a quick response travel permit (QTP) through the city’s online tourist registration must pass through for document verification and antigen testing before proceeding to their accommodation.

“Mas marami pa ang dumating kasi may hotels na nakakapag-issue ng QTP at hindi yun kasama sa city statistics tapos may mga naka-essential travel din na namasyal na din dahil nandito na sila (There are more who actually arrived because the city’s statistics does not include the QTP issued by hotels. There are also those who came for essential travel but took advantage and already went around the city),” Mapalo stated.

He also said that 113 accommodation establishments formed a triage and they are now allowed to issue QTPs for at least 70% of their capacity.

According to the Department of Tourism (DOT), the money spent by an individual local tourist per day for any overnight stay in an area was between P2,000 and P2,500.

Mapalo revealed that the city saw a total of 328,000 tourist arrivals in 2021, up from 270,000 in 2020.

“December talaga ang peak season natin ng tourist arrival (Our peak tourism season is really in December),” he stated.

In 2019, tourist arrivals totaled 1.2 million, translating to P3.84 billion in tourism receipts.

The city government has previously clarified that Baguio is not close to tourists, and it will continue to accept tourists who have already been issued a QTP, according to Office of the Mayor Executive Assistant IV Althea Rosanna Alberto.

She added that the local government will continue to issue QTPs up to the 4,000 daily arrival capacity of the city’s triage and the private accommodation establishments that can issue permits.

She encouraged the public, not only establishments and tourists, to continue to observe public health protocols and follow the guidelines for economic activity in the city.

She said, “We are still on Level 2 although heightened, mag-ingat po tayo para hindi lumala ang sitwasyon kasi ‘yon ang dahilan na maraming activity ang maipagbabawal at mawawalan ng pagkakakitaan ang mga tao (Let us be careful so that the situation will not worsen as it will lead to the stoppage of activities and again people losing income). Let us be careful, cooperate, and take care of ourselves so that we don’t get sick.”

Image from Philippine News Agency, File Photos

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