BAGUIO City Mayor Benjamin Magalong and tourism stakeholders agreed to open the city to Luzon starting October 22.

However, the City will still limit the number of tourists to 200 while following strict health protocols.

The decision came after recommendations from Baguio Tourism Council (BTC), Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio (HRAB) and city health officials.

Engineer Alec Mapalo, city tourism officer, said Baguio will now be open for Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and National Capital Region (NCR) even without uploading itineraries and booking confirmations but still must adhere to health requirements and triage protocols.

Mapalo said "Do It Yourself" and day tours (must stay overnight) will still not be allowed, as well as staying with friends or relatives (must stay in accredited establishments).

"When staycationers decide to go on tour, hotel contacts accredited tour operators and we still have a limit of 200 per day with the same testing rules to apply (a test is valid for 5 days only)," Mapalo said.

Visita stats update as October 18 show there are 2,841 registrations wit 528 pending travel requests.

The online platform logged 59 requests from Ilocos and 269 from NCR. There were also six requests from Cagayan Valley and 109 from Central Luzon.

There were also 64 from Calabarzon, and a lone request from Mimaropa and Soccsksargen, while there were four from Bicol and three from Central Visayas.

The Visita logged nine requests from Cordillera and three from the United States of America.

To date, there were 15 travelers from Ilocos since the launch of the tourism exchange.