17,000 tourists visit Sagada

By Gina Dizon

SAGADA, Mountain Province – Nearly 17,000 local tourists or 74 percent of total travelers, came here the last quarter of 2007 to May this year.

Municipal records 16,841 Filipino travelers visited this tourist town during the peak months of October last year to May 2008 of the total 22, 871 visitors the past 8 months.

Of the total visitors, 18, 876 tourists or 83% came from Asian countries including the Philippines, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and China. Among Asian tourists, Filipino visitors were followed by 1,525 Koreans and 162 Japanese.

The rest of the 17% visitors came from the continents of Europe, America, and Australia. Most European travelers come from Germany, Austria, Czeck Republic, France, Italy, Denmark, United Kingdom, Spain, and Switzerland corresponding to at least 13% of the total visitors.

Four African travelers came from Namibia and Ethiopia.

Tourism is one major source of income especially among the residents of the Poblacion area where local business cater to meals, lodging, sale of souvenir items, and guiding tourists.

This, aside from transport and retail of goods.

Sagada is a popular tourist destination peaking its arrivals in the months of October to May. European tourists mostly from Germany, Switzerland, and Denmark along with some Americans had been the initial tourists during Sagada’s early tourism years in the late 1970s to the 80’s. Local tourists took their peak in the ‘90s to the present.

The pine-clad town offers refreshing sites for walks around the vicinity of the town. Its famous caves including Sumaguing Cave are favorite spots for spelunking aside from invigorating rice terraces of Kiltepan in nearby Antadao barangay, and cool Bomod-ok Falls in Bangaan to indulge in a dip after a leisurely one hour hike from the main town.

Former town councilor and tourism officer Jane Bawing estimated revenues collected from tourists adds to nearly half a million pesos for the whole year.

Tourists each pay P10 representing environmental fees used to maintain cleanliness and security of the tourist attractions including the caves and the vicinity of the town, aside from other community purposes.

The amount collected from tourists could also accommodate employment of a tourism officer to focus in tourism concerns, Bawing said. She said the municipal government could raise the environmental fee. The 10 per visiting tourist was then being collected by the Sagada Environmental Guides Association in the early ‘90s. The municipal government assumed collection last year.