A total of 19,242 tourists visited Baguio last December 2020, the City Tourism Office reported.
They were among those who registered at the online portal visita.baguio.gov.ph. and arrived from Dec. 1 to 31, 2020, City Tourism Supervising Officer, Aloysius Mapalo said.
The highest number of daily visitor entry was recorded on Dec. 30 with 1,707 arrivals.
Based on the report, 21,639 registered from Nov. 30, 2020 to Jan. 3 and 20,916 travels were approved.
The city disapproved the requests of 628 registrants who reside outside Luzon. Baguio only accepts tourists from Luzon.
Mapalo said other registrants were disapproved due to incomplete requirements or information provided.
Others simply registered to check out the portal for future plans.
A tourist is given a QR code, which is checked and verified at the border checkpoint to assure that only those authorized are allowed entry.
The report also included those who registered at https://hdf.baguio.gov.ph and those who had essential travels to the city as they are potential tourists.
Mayor Benjamin Magalong said the tourists were “very manageable,” estimating that there were about 5,000 tourists a day.
“At an average, 800 to 1,200 tourists arrive in a day and most of them stay for about three to five days,” Magalong said, stressing that the city government is trying to balance health and tourism, allowing only a manageable number of tourists to enter the city.
The figure was not 10 percent of the arrivals that Baguio used to get before the pandemic.
He said several workers in the tourism industry continue to be affected by the pandemic as the hotel occupancy rate is only about five percent and only at the two major accommodations – the Baguio Country Club and Camp John Hay Manor.
Due to the low number of tourists, some hotels have remained closed to prevent further losses in operational costs. – PNA
April 26, 2024
