WITH the city returning to a general community quarantine (GCQ) status, Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong said that the city can no longer legally accept tourists.
Magalong said that the final say whether the city will be allowed to accept tourism traffic depends on the Department of Tourism (DOT)’s talks with the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF).
Baguio City has already requested that it be allowed to accept tourists within its borders.
“Technically, it’s not yet allowed. We are awaiting the Department of Tourism’s approval. They will endorse that to IATF if we can accept (tourists),” Magalong said.
The DOT, through Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, has endorsed the city’s request to the IATF. However, the IATF has yet to act on the endorsement.
Magalong cites a precedent in Mabini, Batangas, which was allowed to accept tourists despite being in GCQ status in October of last year.
Currently, Magalong is appealing to tourists to instead wait for updates instead of making plans to go up to the city during the period of quarantine.
“Just wait for further announcements. But for the meantime, we are not allowing tourists to come up to Baguio City,” he said.
