Commercial air services have been suspended at Loakan Airport in July 2008. But take heart: this article mentions that Seair could open flights by October.
Baguio losing allure as tourism haven
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/network/baguio-losing-allure-tourism-haven
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
BAGUIO CITY -- Garbage, a declining peace-and-order situation, and the change in the interests of the younger generation have pulled down the allure of Baguio as a tourism destination.
The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio (HRAB) disclosed that the average hotel occupancy this past Holy Week was a dismal 79 percent. To top it off, a declining trend has been noticed for the last five years.
Among the reasons cited by HRAB president Anthony de Leon for the low volume of visitors last Holy Week were the garbage problem, the weakening peace-and-order situation, and traffic and pollution problems in the city.
The City of Baguio, the summer capital of the Philippines, is famous of its cool environment which attracts people from the lowland especially during summer when the weather is so hot.
De Leon issued this statement during the celebration party of the 2009 Panagbenga at the Golden Pine Hotel.
He said Panagbenga 2009 was successful because of the close partnership among all the stakeholders, including the City Government.
But he stressed that the shift of the younger generations’ interest to water sports adventure tourism largely contributed to the low turnout.
De Leon explained that Baguio just could not provide the kind of tourism that interests the younger generation. "We are losing out on this aspect."
He said there is a need to conduct regular surveys in order to assess the performance of the industry.
De Leon encouraged member hotels and restaurants to provide the organization with monthly occupancy reports. These will help the organization cope with the declining number of visitors.
In order to check the downward trend, de Leon said stakeholders in the industry will hold a tourism summit on May 29 to repackage Baguio's promotional and marketing efforts.
The summit will be held at the Baguio Country Club.
"I am calling on all our partners in the hotels, restaurants, transport, and allied services (to join the summit). With our combined resources and efforts, we can boost the prestige and image of Baguio City," said de Leon.
As an initial step to pull more visitors to the city, he said there are plans to team up with the surrounding provinces in order to come up with a common and mutually beneficial tourism package. This is to give tourists an array of tourism venues to further add to the enjoyment and experience of visitors.
Meanwhile, De Leon said the city could maximize its potential as a tourism haven with the recent pronouncement of South East Asian Airlines (Seair) of opening flights to the city by October. The flights will be from Manila to Laoag to Baguio.
But he said talks are being made to convince Seair to reschedule its planned maiden flight to September.
"We hope Baguio City will have a functional airport (with regular flights) before October just in time for the centennial celebration of the city," he added. (TSS/Sunnex)
1 comment:
For those that wants to get to Baguio really fast, this may be an option. But how long is the layover in Laoag?
This could be beneficial for those coming abroad. From the U.S. or any other point abroad to Laoag, this may be a convenient way to Baguio. However, a fare for a Laoag destination is fully priced as opposed to a discounted fare to Manila. Personally, I go for the cheaper fare (I got the Ilocano trait in me).
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