P75 environmental fee per tourist spot in Baguio pushed

Baguio city councilors Mylen Yaranon and Joel Alangsab are pushing for P75 environmental fee per tourist spot in the city.

The proposal said all tourists, travellers, and guests should pay P75 Environmental User’s Fee [EUF] upon entry to a tourist destination site in the Philippines’ Summer Capital.

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It said the fee would only be good during their stay in that particular place. The funds that will be collected would be part of the city’s income and its General Funds.

“The City of Baguio is one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations due to its cool climate and various tourist destinations. However, the increasing in tourism and economic activities within the City of Baguio has intensifies the risk of environmental degradation, destruction of our ecosystem, and an increase in land, air, and water pollution,” the proposed measure states.

The money collected from the EUF will be used to rehabilitate the city and improve its waste management system.

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P75 environmental fee per tourist spot in Baguio pushed

According to the report released by City Administrator Carlos Canilao and acting city tourism and special events operations officer Jose Maria Rivera, a total of 1,013, 704 tourists have visited the city from January to September last year.

April and May remained to be the peak months for tourists with 143,966, and 133,343 arrivals respectively followed closely by January with 132,293 and February with 129,233.

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In December last, memes saying EDSA traffic was transferred to Baguio circulated online. Tourists complained about how crowded the city was. There were no parking spaces and people overflow in all tourist sites. Local drivers were forced to cancel their trips because of the heavy traffic.

Baguio’s local government also complained of visitors who left tons of garbage at their city.

The government also announced earlier this year that they would close some famous tourist spots in Baguio for rehabilitation.

Some of the popular tourist destinations in Baguio are Mine’s View Park, Burnham Park, Botanical Garden, and Camp John Hay.