Baguio City preparing red carpet for advertisers’ gab

BAGUIO CITY — Nothing but the red carpet.

The City of Pines is readying a grand welcome for at least 4,000 delegates to the 18th Advertising Congress slated here on Nov. 19 to 23.

The AdCon week will particularly be auspicious for city folk as Shoemart opens its branch here, the first such shopping mall in Northern Luzon. SM-Baguio sits on the former site of the Pines Hotel on Luneta Hill.

Although AdCon organizers expect at least 4,000 participants, Mayor Bernardo Vergara said the number could shoot up to 10,000 as the delegates bring their family members, loved ones and friends to enjoy a vacation in this mountain abode.

"We are the vacation capital of the country and the destination of everyone who wants an experience of a lifetime," he said.

For Nicolas Tabora, president of the City Tourist Council, the AdCon will surely revive Baguio as the "Convention City."

Baguio had successfully played host to small and big conventions alike but this got derailed with the destruction wreaked by the 1990 "killer earthquake" which left a number of hotels and establishments in ruins.

The city had been a favorite venue of the AdCon, having hosted at least 10 of its 18 bi-annual meetings.

City officials are bullish that the AdCon will bring in "vibrant business" not only to the hotels — which have been fully booked since October for accommodations of 60 percent of the participants — and restaurants, but also to the street vendors and vegetable farmers.

Tabora beamed that the AdCon would contribute at least P18 million a day to the city coffers.

To ensure a successful staging of the 18th AdCon, the city government has put in place tighter security measures.

"We hope that there will be no disturbance, otherwise this will be a black eye to our tourism industry," Vergara said.