BAGUIO CITY — The Department of Tourism (DOT) in the Cordillera Administrative Region said Thursday Baguio could reach the 1.4-million tourist arrival mark by the end of December.
Marie Venus Tan, DOT Cordillera regional director, said the city breached the one-million tourist arrival target for 2017 as early as September.
The tourist arrivals could further increase as Baguio becomes more accessible to Metro Manila.
Travel time from Manila to Baguio and vice versa is now only 3.5 hours, from the previous 4.5 to 5 hours, via the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX) which connects the central and northern Luzon provinces to Manila via the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) and the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX).
Tan also said that with the holding of the month-long 2018 Baguio Flower Festival in February, and the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) alumni homecoming and graduation also on the same month, tourist arrival is expected to further increase.
City Mayor Mauricio Domogan in a press conference on Wednesday confirmed the DOT’s statement, saying that Baguio has proposed a PHP2-billion budget for 2018, which it would be able to get generally from business taxes of tourism-related establishments.
He said: “The city is getting its share in tourism arrivals. This tells us the importance of the tourism aspect.”
He noted of the many conference organizations, offices and networks with big number of participants being held in Baguio, not just during the peak of tourism season but all year round.
The heavy traffic being experienced in the city is another proof of the skyrocketing number of arrivals, the reason the local government here is prioritizing the rehabilitation of barangay or village roads which are being eyed as alternative roads inside the city.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in the Cordillera also reported high collection of taxes from the business sector, particularly from tourism-related establishments, which it attributes to the good revenue derived by the robust industry. (Liza Agoot/PNA)
