PUGO, La Union – Municipal officials and residents of this fifth-class town expressed their sincerest and heartfelt gratitude to the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club (BCBC) for including the municipality as part of this year’s Search for the Baguio-Benguet Lucky Summer Visitor.
The face-to-face annual Search for the Lucky Summer Visitor was conducted within the compound of the Flying V Gas station in barangay Cares last April 6, 2023, Monday Thursday, where 7 first-time visitors to Baguio City were chosen to be this year’s batch of lucky visitors
Mayor Kurt Walter M. Martin said that the municipal government is very much privileged to be part of this year’s Search for the Lucky Summer Visitor as it will greatly contribute in efforts to promote Pugo as a destination for tourists being host to famous resorts and in-land bodies of water worthy of visiting.
The 2019 search was conducted in the same area where this year’s activity was conducted and this year’s event is the first after the 3-year lull because of the measures taken to restrict movement of people due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mayor Martin extended the invitation to the BCBC to include one of the town’s tourist destinations that should be visited by the chosen lucky summer visitors in the coming years to help in aggressively promoting Pugo as part of the itinerary of tourists wanting to spend their vacation in the highlands considering the proximity of the municipality to Baguio and Benguet.
He claimed that private and public tourist destinations in the locality is now thriving but there is still a need for an aggressively promotion with the assistance of the media to entice more foreign and domestic visitors to consider dropping by Pugo before or after proceeding to their desired destinations in La Union and the different parts of the Cordillera.
Aside from the Pugo Adventure (PUGAD) and Kultura resorts, Pugo also hosts the Tapuakan river, a regional Hall of Fame awardee in the Search for the cleanest In-land body of Water in the Ilocos Region.
Earlier, the municipal government reported that tourist arrivals in the municipality started to bounce back after the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic following the easing up of community restrictions that paved the way for people to freely move around.
The municipal chief executive pointed out that the local government continues to support initiatives that will pave the way for the local economy to regain its vibrance for people to get back their jobs and resume their livelihoods.
Martin lauded the media organization for their unwavering support to the sustained growth of tourism in the different parts of the country, stating that media plays a vital role in packaging the promotion of certain places as must-see destinations for both local and foreign tourists wanting to explore scenic destinations.
