Baguio tourism still struggling after Pepeng
BAGUIO CITY, Philippines - More than a month after the onslaught of typhoon Pepeng (international codename: Parma), businesses in Baguio City are barely back on their feet, with tourist turnouts remaining low.
Kim, who sells Baguio food products and souvenir items in one of the busiest bus terminals in the Central Business District, laments their consistent decrease in sales this year.
“We usually generate about P10,000 income around the same time last year. In the months before the typhoon, it went down to around P6,000, then to just P800 in the days following the typhoon," she explains in Filipino.
“Tourists who drop by here no longer buy Baguio souvenirs," Kim adds. The products include knitted bonnets, scarves, and necklaces.
Sales were momentarily brisk during the All Saint’s Day weekend but quickly dwindled the following week, adds Kim.
“Our sales usually shoot up starting the last week of October and will last until around June the next year, but this is not the case anymore," Kim explains.
Ellen, another stall owner, says their average P1, 500 sales everyday went down to P100 during the typhoon.
Recovering
She adds, however, that they are slowly recovering, with bus trips having gone back to normal since the reopening of Baguio’s three main roads.
A bus company with routes from Baguio to Manila and nearby provinces records an average 33 round trips per day at around P10,000 per trip, which brings daily losses to more than P600,000 during the four-day trip suspension.
Businesses at Burnham Park, perhaps Baguio’s most accessible tourist spot, have also been suffering.
Belen Ogena says her boats-for-rent business is not coping very well. “Last year we usually had (the boats) rented for 30 minutes at P60. Today we allow customers to stay there for as long as they want for the same price."
“We expected to recover after the rainy season, but then Pepeng came and we have since been hard up coping with the low tourist turnout," she says in Filipino.
Sonny Legaspi, who has a bicycle-for-rent business, has similar concerns. He observes that excursions are hard to come by nowadays, and fewer foreign tourists have come since typhoon Pepeng compared to the same time last year.
Even Baguio’s famous ukay-ukay is affected, as it is heavily dependent on tourist arrivals. Marina Bumatay, owner of one stall along the Bayanihan area near Burnham Park, has not replenished her stock since June of this year.
Lost revenues
Baguio City lost around P300 million in expected revenues from the pullout of the Advertising Congress, according to the Department of Tourism (DOT).
But the mountain resort city is expected to gradually regain its losses as the busy holiday season nears, and with several activities lined up to spruce up its tourism.
The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio has slashed hotel rates by 30-50 percent until the end of this month to attract tourists back to the city.
The DOT is also set to launch the WOW Philippines, Cordillera’s Best 2009 project on November 25. Among the activities lined up are two grand parades on November 28 and 29 featuring Baguio City and the Cordillera Region’s festivals.
The city is also set to host the 60th edition of the Fil-American Golf Tournament starting November 25. The event is expected to shoot up Baguio’s tourism as it will draw some 1,200 golfers from around the world. It holds a Guiness Record for being the biggest amateur golf tournament in the world.
Says a DOT source, “We are eyeing on conferences as the primary tourism activity to be hoisted in Baguio. Again, we remain optimistic that visitors will still be coming this Christmas season," adding that December is Baguio’s most visited month. - GMANews.TV
Kim, who sells Baguio food products and souvenir items in one of the busiest bus terminals in the Central Business District, laments their consistent decrease in sales this year.
“We usually generate about P10,000 income around the same time last year. In the months before the typhoon, it went down to around P6,000, then to just P800 in the days following the typhoon," she explains in Filipino.
“Tourists who drop by here no longer buy Baguio souvenirs," Kim adds. The products include knitted bonnets, scarves, and necklaces.
Sales were momentarily brisk during the All Saint’s Day weekend but quickly dwindled the following week, adds Kim.
“Our sales usually shoot up starting the last week of October and will last until around June the next year, but this is not the case anymore," Kim explains.
Ellen, another stall owner, says their average P1, 500 sales everyday went down to P100 during the typhoon.
Recovering
She adds, however, that they are slowly recovering, with bus trips having gone back to normal since the reopening of Baguio’s three main roads.
A bus company with routes from Baguio to Manila and nearby provinces records an average 33 round trips per day at around P10,000 per trip, which brings daily losses to more than P600,000 during the four-day trip suspension.
Businesses at Burnham Park, perhaps Baguio’s most accessible tourist spot, have also been suffering.
Belen Ogena says her boats-for-rent business is not coping very well. “Last year we usually had (the boats) rented for 30 minutes at P60. Today we allow customers to stay there for as long as they want for the same price."
“We expected to recover after the rainy season, but then Pepeng came and we have since been hard up coping with the low tourist turnout," she says in Filipino.
Sonny Legaspi, who has a bicycle-for-rent business, has similar concerns. He observes that excursions are hard to come by nowadays, and fewer foreign tourists have come since typhoon Pepeng compared to the same time last year.
Even Baguio’s famous ukay-ukay is affected, as it is heavily dependent on tourist arrivals. Marina Bumatay, owner of one stall along the Bayanihan area near Burnham Park, has not replenished her stock since June of this year.
Lost revenues
Baguio City lost around P300 million in expected revenues from the pullout of the Advertising Congress, according to the Department of Tourism (DOT).
But the mountain resort city is expected to gradually regain its losses as the busy holiday season nears, and with several activities lined up to spruce up its tourism.
The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio has slashed hotel rates by 30-50 percent until the end of this month to attract tourists back to the city.
The DOT is also set to launch the WOW Philippines, Cordillera’s Best 2009 project on November 25. Among the activities lined up are two grand parades on November 28 and 29 featuring Baguio City and the Cordillera Region’s festivals.
The city is also set to host the 60th edition of the Fil-American Golf Tournament starting November 25. The event is expected to shoot up Baguio’s tourism as it will draw some 1,200 golfers from around the world. It holds a Guiness Record for being the biggest amateur golf tournament in the world.
Says a DOT source, “We are eyeing on conferences as the primary tourism activity to be hoisted in Baguio. Again, we remain optimistic that visitors will still be coming this Christmas season," adding that December is Baguio’s most visited month. - GMANews.TV
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