City officials recently expressed their heartfelt gratitude to the local government, the citizenry in general, the Baguio Country Club (BCC) and Camp John Hay (CJH) for having been essential in the city to win the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Clean Tourist City Award for the third consecutive time for the period 2024-2026.
In a resolution, local legislators stated that in the words of Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco, expressing support in behalf of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., the Chief Executive as only and clear mandate which is to re-introduce the new Philippines as a tourism powerhouse in Asia, whose people are the epitome of warmth and hospitality, and whose poignant smile is next to none.
During the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) 2024 held in Vientiane, Laos, Baguio City, including the cities of Ilagan, Isabela and Tabuk City, Kalinga, were awarded as the ASEAN Clean Tourist City awardees for the period 2024-2026.
The council stipulated that this is the third time that the city has garnered the coveted ASEAN Clean Tourist City Standard Award after winning in the same category for the periods 2020-2022 and 2022-2024 during the 2022 ASEAN Tourism awarding ceremony held at Sokha Beach Resort, Preah Sihanoukville, Cambodia last January 19, 2022.
ACTCS aims to provide member nations with a tool to improve the quality of tourism in their cities, increase marketing competitiveness, improve the situation of local residents and their livelihood to alleviate poverty, and protect the environment in response to the serious negative impact of climate change and contribute to the sustainable development of ASEAN cities.
Aside from Baguio, the Cordillera Convention hall and the Infinity Garden, both by the Baguio Country Club, and the CAP John Hay Trade and Cultural Center won the ASEAN Meeting, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) Venue Awards among 15 other Philippine venues under the Event Venue Category.
Further, the Forest Lodge at Camp John Hay also won the ASEAN Green Hotel Award among four other venues for which said accolade recognizes hotel industry players whose operations are based on the achievement of sustainable tourism through environment-friendly principles, human resource development, resource consumption reduction and local community involvement.
Copies of the approved resolution will be transmitted to the concerned institutions for their information, guidance, ready reference and further needed action. By Dexter A. See
