Festival official: Baguio City to gain at least P1B from Panagbenga
BAGUIO CITY— Business will be blooming in the summer capital of the Philippines as this year's annual flower festival draws at least a million visitors.
“The City of Baguio is poised to gain around a billion pesos with the Panagbenga 2012 festivities,” said Dangal “Amboy” Guevarra, chief of staff of the Panagbenga 2012-Baguio Flower Festival Foundation Inc.
Guevarra said the figure is a roughly computed estimate of what the city would earn with the month-long festival, which is a popular tourist attraction.
According to him, “the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation will not earn anything from this but this will be earned by those in the tourism industry related businesses in the city.”
The Department of Tourism estimated that there were over a million visitors during the Street Dancing and Float Parade events of the festivities last year. If at an average, each individual would just spend a thousand pesos for transportation, food, and buying some souvenirs, that would easily convert into a billion pesos of fresh infusion for a day’s activity, explained Guevarra.
Although there are no official figures of how much the city really gains during a festival, Guevarra noted that in the case of the bus company Victory Liner, the festival brings them more than twice their normal volume of passengers.
While the bus company regularly has 80 trips plying the Baguio and Manila route, they add an additional 100 trips during the main events of the festival. "This is only a single bus company we are talking about," he added.
"If the transportation sector experiences a business boom during the festival, so would other businesses such as restaurants, hotels and would trickle down to the cottage industry sector to the simple street vendors," he averred.
According to Guevarra, this event is really a boost to the Baguio economy.
"The BFFI is just here to promote and manage the event, those who actually gain is the community itself," he said. — Maria Elena Gonzalez with Carmela Lapeña /LBG GMA News
“The City of Baguio is poised to gain around a billion pesos with the Panagbenga 2012 festivities,” said Dangal “Amboy” Guevarra, chief of staff of the Panagbenga 2012-Baguio Flower Festival Foundation Inc.
Guevarra said the figure is a roughly computed estimate of what the city would earn with the month-long festival, which is a popular tourist attraction.
According to him, “the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation will not earn anything from this but this will be earned by those in the tourism industry related businesses in the city.”
The Department of Tourism estimated that there were over a million visitors during the Street Dancing and Float Parade events of the festivities last year. If at an average, each individual would just spend a thousand pesos for transportation, food, and buying some souvenirs, that would easily convert into a billion pesos of fresh infusion for a day’s activity, explained Guevarra.
Although there are no official figures of how much the city really gains during a festival, Guevarra noted that in the case of the bus company Victory Liner, the festival brings them more than twice their normal volume of passengers.
While the bus company regularly has 80 trips plying the Baguio and Manila route, they add an additional 100 trips during the main events of the festival. "This is only a single bus company we are talking about," he added.
"If the transportation sector experiences a business boom during the festival, so would other businesses such as restaurants, hotels and would trickle down to the cottage industry sector to the simple street vendors," he averred.
According to Guevarra, this event is really a boost to the Baguio economy.
"The BFFI is just here to promote and manage the event, those who actually gain is the community itself," he said. — Maria Elena Gonzalez with Carmela Lapeña /LBG GMA News
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