EVEN vendors at Burnham Park made a killing during the Yuletide break.
If estimates are correct, tourism revenues during the duration of the Christmas and New Year broke the projected 1.5 million tourists spending at least P2,500 each and therefore raking in almost P375,000,000,000.
Anthony De Leon, president of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio and Baguio Country Club general manager, said the over P3 billion in revenue was estimated based on arrivals and the Department of Tourism estimated spending of each tourist, which is pegged at least P2,500 which goes to hotels, restaurants, souvenir shops, transportation, food and other expenses incurred by visitors during their stay in the Mountain City.
De Leon said the number of tourists estimated by stakeholders in the transport and police sector were for the entire duration of the holidays spanning almost two weeks.
The revenues estimated were earned by the entire tourism sector, including hotels, restaurants, lodging homes, bed and breakfast, boarding houses, small eateries, vendors and transport services, which include jeeps, taxis and rent a van companies.
De Leon said the opening of the TPLEX Urdaneta Road was a huge factor in the deluge of tourists in the City as well as the BLISST areas.
The road opening has made the trip to the Mountain Resort a quick four hours, granting there are no traffic hurdles on the way.
De Leon said another factor was the unrelenting promotion done by tourism stakeholders for the City and the BLISST areas. These promotion include media exposure and advertisements, as well as the unexpected highlight brought by a network teleserye featuring Mt. Sto. Tomas as their setting prompting visitors to flock to the place.
De Leon said the tourist who flocked to the famed "La Presa" has given the area instant tourism aside from the usual scenes visited in the mountain.
But he stressed there will be disadvantages in the boost.
"Is the infrastructure ready for the area, the community, the environment?" de Leon said.
De Leon said the BLISST areas still lack the necessary infrastructure needed for a fully working tourism plan and said local government units as well as private stakeholders must work together to make a cohesive plan.