Panagbenga now a P12B industry in Baguio City

BAGUIO CITY – The conduct of the month-long Panagbenga flower festival has already become a P12 billion industry in this Summer Capital because of the influx of more than P5 million foreign and domestic tourists for its 18th edition this year, organizers said here Monday.

Freddie Alquiroz, chairman of the Panagbenga executive committee, said the more than P12 billion that circulated in the local economy for a period of just over a month has greatly contributed in sustaining the city’s robust growth and regaining its image as one of the prime tourist destinations in the country.

 “We were surprised over the increased tourist arrivals for the whole duration of the flower festival,” Alquirozsaid, adding around 80 percent of the recorded 5 million foreign and domestic tourist arrivals came during the grand street dance parade last Feb. 23 and the grand float parade Feb. 24 while the remaining 20 percent came during the Session Road in Bloom and the closing program.

According to him, 90 percent of the total tourist arrivals were domestic tourists came from different parts of the archipelago considering that they want to witness the highlights of this year’s festivities.

Based on data obtained from the tourism department, a local tourist spends an average of P2,500 per day for food, lodging and transportation, excluding other related expenses like purchase of souvenir items among others while a foreign tourist spends around P5,000 per day.

 “The 12 billion that circulated in the local economy trickled down six times that helped in providing employment opportunities and sustain the sources of livelihood of more than 10,000 small, medium and large enterprises,”Alquiros said.

Engineer Victor Calimlim, president of the Baguio Market Vendors Cooperative, said market stallholders realized tremendous influx of visitors wanting to purchase assorted vegetables and souvenir items that resulted to around 30 percent increase in market goers compared to the 2012 Panagbenga festivities.

Alquiroz said the 250-member Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio (HRAB) and the over 700 registered transient houses were fully booked for over a month now and during the first week of March up to the graduation rites of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) by the third week which indicates that “Baguio has regained its identity as one of the prime tourist destinations worthy of visiting during the whole year.”

Rose Cuilan, a member of the Panagbenga Landscapers Society, said despite the decrease in the number of floats that joined the grand float parade from 23 to 19, agencies and corporations that put up floats reportedly spent around P500,000 to P1.5 million just to provide the crowd with world-class floral arrangements to spice up the festivities.

Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan attributed the successful staging of the Panagbenga activities to the unity and teamwork of the officialdom and the people of Baguio who painstakingly prepared and worked hard to provide visitors with the necessary entertainment in order to entice them to keep coming back to the city.

 “We also congratulate our neighbors in the Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay (BLISTT) for their cooperation and contributions in the success of this year’s flower festival that also contributed to the improved income of our flower, vegetable and strawberry farmers,” Domogansaid.

Benguet province, he added, also plays a key role in the success of the flower festival because it is the principal source of flowers that are used to decorate street dancers and floats, vegetables and strawberries s souvenir items.

Because of the improved income of small, medium and large enterprises, Domogan cited local businessmen will contribute in the coffers of the city government by paying their taxes so that the local government will generate more funds to bankroll its priority projects and enhance the delivery of basic services to the people.

Perfecto Itliong, Jr., regional coordinator of the Public Transport Affairs Office (PTAO) in the Cordillera, said despite the monstrous traffic jams in the city’s streets, operators and drivers of public utility vehicles were also able to get a lion’s share of the huge money that circulated in the local economy over the past four weeks.

He added tourist buses and garage vans from different parts of the country were also able to earn substantial income by ferrying tourists from their points of origin to the city and vice versa over the past several days.

 “The 18th edition of Panagbenga could be considered the best because of the overwhelming participation of street dancers and floats coupled with the record-breaking tourist arrivals, thus, we hope to replicate the same in the coming years,” Alquiroz said.