Baguio daily tourist arrivals nearly reaching pre-pandemic figures

Daily tourist arrivals in the city is now reaching the pre-pandemic figures following the gradual and safe revival of the local economy being instituted by the concerned government agencies, the city government and the tourism industry stakeholders.

Supervising City Tourism Operations Officer Engr. Aloysius C. Mapalo stated that the city’s daily average in terms of tourist arrivals during the pre-Corona Virus Disease (COVID) 2019 pandemic was around 6,000 which has contributed in sustaining the vibrant tourism industry.

However, he claimed that the highest leisure travels recorded by the city’s registration platform, visita.baguio.gov.ph, was last Saturday, December 11, 2021 where the number of travelers to the city was at 5,643.

The city tourism official explained that the aforesaid number of daily travelers to the city does not include those coming as essential, official or business travels that are said to be more or less 500 a day.

Mapalo’s pronouncement came after the city government decided to further increase the number of daily travelers that will be allowed in the city from the previous 4,000 to 5,000.

According to him, the city government can allow more than the prescribed limit of daily travelers since hotels, transient houses and bus terminals with their own established and accredited triage can now approve and process the QR-coded tourist passes (QTPs) for their own guests independently beyond the existing limit of the registration platform.

He stipulated that the hotels, transient houses and bus terminals allowed to triage their own guests will have to stick to the restrictions providing for the 50 percent occupancy of their authorized capacity.

He emphasized it was worth empowering tourism establishments to become responsible in their compliance to the prevailing implementation of the prescribed restrictions to sustain the gains of the government in containing the further surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in the city.

“We can say that we’re back in business, with many fully booked hotels and shops and restos having their regular number of customers, but not necessarily the overcrowding and monstrous traffic,” Mapalo stressed.

In spite of many visitors, he stipulated that the city has manageable traffic and ample space for visitors in parks and establishments.

Mapalo revealed that even the city’s central triage based at the Baguio Convention Center is now able to process smoothly with an average waiting time of 15 to 30 minutes.

Further, the city’s vaccination target population rate has already exceeded 100 percent which is a prelude to a better normal that will advance and promote responsible and sustainable tourism for all to advocate and enjoy.

Earlier, the city accredited some 100 tourism establishments composed of 67 transient houses, 32 hotels and 3 bus terminals to independently triage their own guests where the number of triaged guests will not be part of the 5,000 daily limit that had been imposed by the local government. – Dexter A. See