LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The province’s tourism industry is gaining headway and gradually and safely going back to the pre-pandemic scenarios that will sustain the economic activities and sources of livelihood of the people in the thirteen towns.
Provincial tourism Officer Eliazar Carias said that the province is right on track in regaining the vibrance of its tourism industry because of the newly discovered destinations aside from the emergence of private owned tourist spots that have flourished in the different parts of the province during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
He disclosed that Benguet was able to record the highest number of tourist arrivals in 2017 with over 1.7 million foreign and domestic tourists that visited the various tourist spots situated in the different municipalities that contributed in spurring the economic activities of people in the remote villages.
However, the provincial tourism admitted that the tourist arrivals in Benguet in 2018 declined by some six percent because of the wrath of Typhoon Ompong in September that inflicted significant losses on lives and properties provincewide.
According to him, the setback in the province’s tourism industry continued during the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic over the past three years that heavily impacted on the economic activities and established sources of livelihood of the residents, especially those relying on tourists to earn a living.
Carias revealed that last year, there were more than 932,600 recorded tourist arrivals in the different tourist destinations around the province which is an indication that the road to recovery after the pandemic is attainable because of the desire of the people to start moving around following the over three years of being confined in their residences.
For the first three quarters of this year, the province records more than 770,000 tourist arrivals in the various public and private destinations. It is evident that the tourism industry stakeholders are now gradually recovering from the impact that was inflicted by the pandemic to their respective business.
Benguet is known as the Salad Bowl of the Philippines for being the source of more than 80 percent of the supply of highland vegetables being sold in the different markets around the country aside from being a haven to agri-tourism, ecotourism and culture destinations.
Carias explained that the data on tourist arrivals was taken from the various accommodation establishments in the different parts of the province and that tourist arrivals could be more than what had been documented because of the presence of day visitors that might have stayed in areas near their desired destinations that are outside Benguet.
He stipulated that the provincial government is grateful to owners of private tourist destinations for their contribution in providing visitors with alternative areas to visit with the development of their properties as agri-tourism, ecotourism or culture destinations because the provincial government needs partners in aggressively promoting Benguet as one of the must-see destinations in the country.
Provincial officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the emergence of numerous public and private tourist destinations in the different parts of Benguet will spur the desired economic growth in the future after the wrath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
