City officials requested hotels operating in the city to allow spaces within their premises for the possible installation of stalls or booths to qualified and registered souvenir, delicacies and pasalubong retailers or sellers to display and sell their local products as part of the ongoing efforts that will pave the way for the gradual and safe revival of the local economy.
Under Resolution No. 540 signed by Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong, local legislators stated that it has been a practice before the pandemic that souvenir or delicacies and pasalubong retailers or sellers were allowed to conduct their businesses within the premises of hotels in the city for the convenience and easy access of guest and customers to local products.
The council tasked the Permits and Licensing Division and the Public Order and Safety Division under the City Mayor’s Office, in coordination with the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio (HRAB), to formulate the appropriate guidelines, criteria and the program components of the said endeavor using the available basic parameters, such as the determination as to the qualified and registered from the existing pool of souvenir or delicacies or pasalubong retailers or sellers in the city; the imposition of appropriate permits and corresponding fees that will be collected by the city government and monitoring of the strict compliance with the minimum public health standards, particularly the proper wearing of face masks and face shields and the observance of physical distancing.
With the ongoing down trend of cases of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) which is projected to continue in the coming months, the city government started opening its doors to fully vaccinated non-essential travelers but the number of visitors allowed to come up to the city has been limited to only 2,000 daily.
The council admitted that the opening of the city to tourists greatly helps the tourism, agriculture, and economy-oriented sectors and an opportunity to slowly revive the city’s lucrative tourism industry that had been heavily impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the body, such a policy of opening the city’s door to fully vaccinated individuals is seen to generate the highest number of tourist arrivals, whether local, foreign and balikbayan visitors, in the coming months that will help spur the economy for people to earn income.
One of the heavily impacted sectors during the implementation of the various levels of community quarantine in the different parts of the country to contain the rapid spread of the virus is the retail sector where the souvenir, delicacies and pasalubong retailers and sellers belong, thus the need for them to start the revival of their economic activities some of whom depend on these as their main source of income. By Dexter A. See
