Ilocos-bound buses ops pushed to boost economy

By Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY -- The city government here is studying resumption of operation of public utility buses bound to Ilocos Region to increase visitors to the country’s Summer Capital and gradually revive the local economy amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
    Supervising City Tourism Operations Officer engineer Aloysius C. Mapalo said the decision of the city government not to accept tourists from the National Capital Region and its nearby provinces caused drastic decline in number of visitors registering in the city’s tourist online registration platform.
    Following this,  city officials and tourism industry stakeholders recommended  resumption of inter-regional bus operations to and from the Ilocos Region to entice people from there to visit the city.

He said the proposal is being carefully studied to ensure health and safety protocols will be imposed on passengers and bus workers to contain spread of Covid-19 in the city.

Mapalo said the vacuum left by the decision not to accept tourists from the NCR “bubble” could be filled up by tourists from the Ilocos and nearby areas.

According to him, tourists from the NCR account for approximately 50-70 percent of the daily tourist arrivals in the city.

Last year, the tourist department, in coordination with Baguio City and local governments in the Ilocos Region, launched the Ridge to Reef tourism bubble to help revive the economy in these places after the heavy negative impact inflicted on the economy by the implementation of community quarantine. to contain the rapid spread of the deadly virus in Northern Luzon.

However, from Oct. 1-22, 2021, there were only 15 visitors from the Ilocos Region to the city that prompted the city government to expand the coverage of the bubble to different parts of Luzon, including NCR, resulting to the significant increase in daily tourist arrivals in the city since then.

Talks between city officials and bus companies are reportedly going on so travelers could be ferried to and from the city.