The tourism industry remains robust at the start of 2025 as shown by the high occupancy rate in accommodation establishments, reaching around 85 percent.

Andrew Pinero, spokesperson of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio (HRAB), in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the launching of the 2025 Panagbenga, said tourists continue to pour in.

He said their members reported up to 95 percent occupancy rate from the first week of December 2024 until the end of the year.

“Our benchmark there is not just the member accommodation establishments but also the transient houses in barangays (villages),” he said.

Engr. Aloysius Mapalo, Baguio City’s tourism officer, in a separate interview said: “We had a good number.”

He said the peak was observed during the last two weekends of the year, at “almost a million for the entire two weeks duration.”

He said they estimated around 10,000 people who joined the New Year countdown at the Melvin Jones grandstand area here.

“We have definitely achieved what we were expecting – the influx of visitors, with the interest of outsiders coming in to Baguio. Making Baguio as a holiday destination was affirmed during the holidays.”

Mapalo also discounted claims that outsiders dominate the city during peak tourist seasons and that locals are sidelined and are asked to just stay home to help address traffic congestions.

“I don’t think it is necessarily true kasi ang highlight ng pinupuntahan ng tourists are local goods, services, products, talents, and the local destinations (I don’t think it is true because what tourists visit and see are the local goods, services, products, talents and the local destinations),” he added. (PNA)