THE surge of tourists coming into Baguio over the course of the previous week after the borders reopened to fully-vaccinated visitors has exceeded the city’s set limits, City Tourism Officer Alec Mapalo said.
“There was really a big surge last weekend, and a big jump from our lockdowns in the past. I think we had more than two months of having no tourists in Baguio City,” Mapalo said.
Under the city’s current rules, no more than 2,000 tourists can be accommodated daily, with the limit based on how many people the city’s central triage facility at the Baguio Convention Center can handle.
However, the city has allowed more than 2,000 tourists in the past weekend, provided that the excess are registered with and go straight to one of the city’s three hotels with their own triage, which is trained by and in compliance with the central triage’s own standards.
During the weekdays, tourist arrivals, while high, did not hit the limit. Mapalo said that the big surge came during the long weekend where tourist entry exceeded the limit for three days straight.
“On Saturday there were 1926 tourists that went through central triage, plus 714 that went directly to their hotels with triage, for a total of 2,640. Sunday had 2,420 actual arrivals, and even Monday saw 2,097,” Mapalo said.
The actual entry numbers, however, do not account for the high number of registrations that were either turned away or had to reschedule to meet the limits.
“It may appear that this will be the trend for the next few weekends, especially towards the Christmas holiday season,” he added.
The limit, he said, will be adjusted through discussions with the technical working group in charge.
According to Mapalo, more than half the tourists came from the National Capital Region (NCR).
By Angel Castillo|November 12, 2021
