Tuesday, December 30, 2008 Bizmen glad for city traffic jams By Rimaliza Opiña
BAGUIO commuters may be losing their patience due to traffic jams but businessmen, hotels, lodging houses, and others benefiting from the upsurge in tourist arrivals do not mind.
For the past three days now, traffic jams were a common site not only in the city's major thoroughfares but also in roads leading to tourist destinations.
City Tourism Officer Benedicto Alhambra said the annual vacation of the First Family, news of a cooler temperature, the lifting of the Number Coding Ordinance, and the reduced prices of fuel all contributed to more tourists coming up to Baguio.
While official statistics of tourist arrivals will be known in January, Alhambra said tourist arrivals late this month is far from what they expected.
Informal survey from hotels and lodging houses, he said, showed many have been fully occupied.
He added that a check with bus stations reveal that buses dispatched to Baguio were mostly on 15-minute intervals, instead of the usual 30-minute intervals.
The First Family, the Cabinet secretaries and their families' annual visit also contributed to the increased number of tourists, according to Alhambra.
He said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and other ranking officials are the best informal endorsers of Baguio, so far.
But the tourism official sees the reduction of the prices of fuel as the main contributing factor to the increased arrivals.
Coupled with the lifting of the Number Coding Ordinance, Alhambra explained most of the tourists, usually families with four or more members, were able to bring their own vehicles.
"If you are coming as a family, it is really better to have your own vehicle... that is why there is heavy traffic now," Alhambra said, adding that a visit to Baguio is an opportune time to bond with members of the family.
