14,000 tourists flock to Baguio City for Panagbenga Festival 2023
MANILA, Philippines — Thousands of visitors from various parts of the country trooped to the the "Summer Capital" to witness the city's annual flower festival, citing figures from the Baguio City Police Office.
With a theme, "A Renaissance of Wonder the Beauty," the Panagbenga Festival 2023 already drew around 14,000 tourists according to a report by ABS-CBN News.
After shelving the festivities in 2020 and 2021 due to the threat of the deadly COVID-19, the Panagbenga only officially returned in 2022 in a bid to revive the city's tourism industry.
Classes were earlier suspended for Saturday's activities in accordance with Executive Order 30, Series of 2023 to pave way for the Street Dance Parade, one of the festivals' crowd-drawing activities.
"The Federation of Baguio District Health and Sanitation Team (FBDHST) Rehabilitation Action for Baguio (RAB) at City General Services Offices (GSO) earlier joined forces to clean after the street dancing parade today," according to the Bgauio City Public Information Office, Saturday, in Filipino.
"Let us all help keep Baguio City clean and orderly throughout the Panagbenga festivities."
An online traffic application was also launched recently to provide information and directional assistance to motorists and to aid in mitigating road congestion during crowd-drawing events.
The festival kicked off last February 1 and will conclude by March 5 with an awarding and closing ceremonies at the Melvin Jones Grandstand and Football Grounds. It will ultimately culminate with a grand aerial fireworks display on the same day in Session Road and Burnham park.
The festival is celebrated every February as a tribute to the city's flowers and as a way to rise from the 1990 the effects of the catastrophic 1990 Luzon earthquake that reached the moment magnitude of 7.7. — James Relativo
