Any talk of re-directing tourism promotions at this time — made more urgent in light of the global public health emergency now sweeping through continents — will have to contend with what Baguio has that other tourist destinations just couldn’t match. These are our natural environment from which Baguio has drawn much of its legendary charm and allure, and our rich cultural heritage that has made the country’s Summer Capital the melting pot of culture in this part of the land. If this were just a rallying cry, it may well be Two for the Road, simply because these are what can rocket-start any re-direction that tourism can have to sustain growth.
To be sure, the scaled down efforts these past weeks was inevitable. Recovering from these took some time, but greater circumspection may well have won the day. While the dreaded nCoV remains a threat, Filipinos being what we are, simply took things in stride, even making up jokes over the jitters spawned by the lethal risk. Even as the numbers went on the steep rise, we still manage to get on with things planned, though with less fury and fervor. Valentines Day came and went with nary an incident that could have suffice to dampen the enlivening spirit. Social contacts that have been restricted in prior days just went out the window in favour of the more animating, more endearing interaction.
The Love month may be over in a few days, but here we are, bouncing back with a vengeance. The Panagbenga parades were simply deferred and are now set to be on the road on the re-scheduled dates this March. Well and good, as tourism activity organizers have to get back on track, probably driven by a natural desire to get the tourists swarming back, merely on the strength of the glitz and glamour of a flower festival. Well and good that amiable as we are couldn’t help highlighting what have been uniquely Baguio’s.
Tourist stakeholders are of course keeping fingers crossed for the re-scheduled crowd-drawing events would bring in the road-jamming crowds. This would make the cash registers ring just as wildly as they have in past Panagbenga editions. The revenue loss just has to recover, in terms of energized hotel bookings and sundry activities that spell cold cash. And why not? When the virus hit the news, and health officials were practically scampering to alert the populace, cancellations came in thick and fast, drawdowns hit a high of 60 %, translated in a P70 million loss.
We’ve said it before: let’s tweak currently planned tourism promotions a bit more, scaling over the tourism landscape around which enticement efforts have traditionally been built around. With or without health-driven factors, we just should look beyond that landscape and think out of the box to get tourism more responsible in more ways than one. Responsible towards the host city and communities, responsible to the environment upon which tourism must be re-designed, given its cherished resources, responsible to the people whose unabashed smiles any time of day are enough to get the sweat worthier to endure, responsible to local laws.
To be sure, atop any list of priorities is the natural environment which Baguio epitomizes across any tourism landscape. Any weekend, tourists come up here at the slightest hint of a reprieve. The lush mountain scenery simply astounds, a marvel any good ol’time of a relaxing ambiance. Emphasizing this won’t even be needed, simply because Baguio is Baguio with its mountain cradle, its forest canopy, its majestic trees, its luscious flowers.
This is why tourism gains must be balanced off with environmental pains. Far too long have our very own residents been bewailing that when tourists come in droves, so do our urban woes go up in decrying decibels. Bring the tourists up and they’d bring our environment down —throwing their debris here and there, causing traffic jams at every conveyance point, even showing off total disrespect to customs and traditions that have been tourism’s bread and butter all year long. Surely, something more specific needs to be defined in terms of environmental nurturing and even re-generation, something that tourists anywhere else must experience by the immediacy of an up close and personal contact. Environmental tourism is what it richly means.
This is why tourism dispersal may have found greater sense at this time, for tourists to get out of Baguio and into neighboring communities to experience the richness of Cordillera customs and traditions where these are deeply embedded and widely practised. Baguio’s gateway allure gets to be underscored even more, making visitors step into the matrix of a cultural mix that has transcended time and circumstance. Heritage tourism is what it’s all about.
As long stated, valor without prudence is merely bravado. Restraint without responsibility may be a sacrifice, but when done for a common good, isn’t it more worth it? By now, we ought to be several notches above that level, as we level up in response to a greater cause.