Baguio eyes September reopening for tourists

ABS-CBN News

<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yiMM9pdKnvw?enablejsapi=1"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>MANILA — Baguio, famed for its cool weather, will re-brand itself as a vacation spot safe from the coronavirus pandemic and might open to tourists in September, Mayor Benjamin Magalong said Tuesday.</p><p>The mountain city will re-open its tourism if it avoids a second wave of COVID-19 cases and if &quot;things normalize&quot; in neighboring Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Region 4, he said.</p><p>Before the coronavirus lockdown in March, Baguio drew some 500,000 tourists at crowd-drawing events like its Panagbenga flower festival.</p><p>The city will accept only a tenth of this number when it re-opens and might gradually accept more holidaymakers once local authorities &quot;learn the dynamics,&quot; said Magalong.</p><p>&quot;When we open up, it&#x27;s just like applying for a visa. That&#x27;s what we&#x27;re doing right now with returning Baguio residents, you have to apply for a &#x27;visa&#x27;, get a schedule,&quot; he said.</p><p>Baguio will be re-branded as a &quot;safe vacation spot&quot; by requiring visitors to go through a checkpoint and 2 levels of medical triage, he said.</p><div><strong>HELP FOR BUSINESSES</strong></div><p>The city is planning tourism programs by &quot;the end of the year&quot; and an initial P100-million stimulus package, 80 percent of which will go to micro enterprises and 20 percent to small businesses, Magalong said.</p><p>Micro businesses have an asset size of up to P3 million while small businesses have an asset size of up to P15 million, according to the trade department&#x27;s website.</p><p>Baguio will seek the agency&#x27;s help to select the beneficiaries of the stimulus package. A similar aid program in the early 2000s failed to yield returns for the city because most of the beneficiaries had &quot;political connections&quot;, he said.</p><p>The city government will also &quot;expose them (residents) to other types of businesses that will thrive during the pandemic,&quot; said Magalong.</p><p>These include strawberry and flower farming, textile manufacturing, weaving and handicraft, he said.</p>

<p>Baguio, famed for its cool weather, will rebrand itself as a vacation spot safe from the coronvirus pandemic and might open to tourists in September, Mayor Benjamin Magalong said Tuesday.</p><p> </p>

Baguio, famed for its cool weather, will rebrand itself as a vacation spot safe from the coronvirus pandemic and might open to tourists in September, Mayor Benjamin Magalong said Tuesday.

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Baguio eyes September reopening for tourists

Baguio eyes September reopening for tourists

ABS-CBN News

Published Jun 23, 2020 09:48 AM PHT

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Updated Jun 23, 2020 02:19 PM PHT

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