Baguio Blooms expo to extend until April amidst income loss

Baguio Blooms Expo in front of Convention Center

The director of the 2020 Baguio Blooms Expo and Session Road in Bloom Malou Galiste, along with the city council and the event organizer announced last February 12 at the Kapihan sa Baguio press conference that the Panagbenga 2020 events will push through from March to April.

Session Road in Bloom will be from March 30 to April 5. Galiste further warned entrepreneurs that only the Baguio Flower Festival Foundation, Inc. will handle the application process to prevent scammers.

It was in January that the Baguio Blooms committee released application forms for small and established entrepreneurs to become a tenant at the expo.

According to Galiste, they have received 300 applications but only 80 participants were able to open their stall. Last week, 18 participants backed out, leaving 62 exhibitors in the expo.

The event council explained the details from the last meeting. The Baguio Blooms Expo will be extended until April instead of closing on March 8. They are granting the tenants free rent until the end of the expo to make up for the income loss that the exhibitors have been facing.

"Hindi tayo maniningil ng additional fees from tenants kasi this is a way to compensate for the loss nila,” Galiste said when asked regarding the grounds of extending the expo.

(We will not be collecting additional fees from the tenants as this is a way to compensate for their loss.)

The cancellation of major events under this year's Panagbenga due to the CoVID 2019 scare led to the disappointment of tenants at the Baguio Blooms Expo because of poor tourism reception in the past two months.

The press conference was held at the Baguio Convention Center where the stalls for the Baguio Blooms are located.

By Grace Guzmani