Blooming Baguio

Just like the vibrant, colorful flowers of spring, Baguio City is blooming again.

My recent visit to the city proved that apart from the weather, there is really nothing cold about Baguio. Benguet folks are still the same resilient people that I knew... warm and hospitable, and still have that flair for celebrations, even after the disease scare.

In a bid to revive its local tourism industry and its economy as a whole, several local government units, the Department of Tourism (DoT)-Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) and the tourism private sector have bonded together to implement an integrated recovery program. "Bloom Baguio Bloom" is a promotions campaign aimed at luring back tourists in time for the Panagbenga Festival.

Visitor arrivals to the city dropped by 90 percent at the height of the meningococcemia crisis, thus resulting in massive economic losses within all sectors of the resident communities. For the travel industry alone, losses were pegged at an estimated R80 million per week.

Tourists have actually slowly returned to the country’s "Summer Capital" with hotels offering attractive packages including a 50 percent discount on room rates. Aside from local tourists, a lot of foreigners are seen walking its streets, mostly Americans, Japanese and Koreans.

Baguio City’s renowned flower festival, the Panagbenga, was formally opened recently with a ceremony held at the Baguio City Hall. Together with this year’s theme "Balik Bulaklak," is the hope to bring back the focus on the flowers.