The Cordillera Regional Statistics Committee (RSC-CAR) approved and adopted its 2022 Development Agenda during its fourth quarter virtual meeting on November 29, 2021 presided by Committee Chair and Regional Director Susan Sumbeling of the Cordillera office of the National Economic and Development Authority. The development agenda aims to provide direction and guidance to the Committee on a quarterly basis in carrying out its functions and set priority activities of the region for next year.
Moreover, it adopted and endorsed the CAR 2020 Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA) to the Cordillera Regional Development Council (RDC-CAR) for adoption. The preparation of the 2020 tourism report is in response to the clamor for an updated data to gain better insights on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the tourism sector in the region. The 2020 estimates went through workshops and reviews with the Technical Working Group on Tourism Statistics and the Satellite Accounts Division (SAD) under the Macroeconomic Accounts Service (MAS) of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). CAR is the first region in the country to come up with its TSA.
For 2020, the average daily inbound tourism expenditure was Php7,543 with an increase of Php151 compared to 2019 where most of it went to transportation expenses, followed by accommodation then travel agencies and other reservation services. Likewise, a slight increase in the average daily expenditure of domestic tourism for overnight and same-day trip was also noted. Baguio remained as the highest contributor to the domestic tourism expenditure in the region in 2020 at 70 percent share, followed by Abra with 19 percent share, and Kalinga with 5 percent share. A significant drop in expenditure for inbound and domestic tourism in the region was recorded which was largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aldrin Bahit of Cordillera office of the Philippine Statistics presented the draft Updated Regional Statistical Development Program (RSDP) 2017-2023 which was prepared after a consultation workshop with regional line agencies, local governments, academe and other stakeholders on August 17.
Sumbeling recommended the inclusion of the monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goals in the region, Provincial Product Accounts, and other regional satellite accounts in the finalization of the report. The RSDP is being updated at midterm to assess and review the accomplishments vis-à-vis targets. New and emerging statistical programs were also included in the report as an offshoot of the pandemic. By: Marissa M. Cabato