Tourism in Baguio City back with a vengeance

By Gaby B. Keith

BAGUIO CITY – Tourism is booming and back with a vengeance in this summer capital once again after three of slump the past three years.
    “Our tourism has had an unprecedented comeback from what was dismal during the past two or three years during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic,” said
    Councilor Lilia Farinas in Tuesdays’ flag-raising rites at city hall led by Mayor Benjamin Magalong and Vice Mayor Faustino Olowan.
    “We have also reinstituted the city’s income towards manageable and actually, very promising levels,” she claimed. Farinas is chair of the local legislature’s committee on tourism, special events, parks and playgrounds.
    Earlier, city tourism office head engineer Aloysius Mapalo said that it was possible the city’s tourism sector badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic can recover in two years, with tourist arrivals breaching pre-pandemic figures.
    Although she admitted that some “flaws in the system like problems in traffic or the possible entry of another virus” still pose challenges, the lady official is very hopeful that solutions can be formulated to solve these.
    Farinas also urged the public to “never give up hope and patience and to be constantly in prayer since it’s a very powerful weapon and without it, we become powerless.”
    “We will continue to experience problems which is a constant in any society.  We will have conflicts. We will have trouble. But we will be patient. We will persevere through it all.
    In her message, she also congratulated various government agencies and others involved in making the city’s     ‘Cool Baguio Summer 2023’ program a success including the athletes and coaches of Team Baguio that was crowned overall champion in the 2023 Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association (CARAA) and Regional Athletic Festival