Tourist arrivals boom in CJH
TOURISM at the Camp John Hay is booming.
John Hay Management Corporation (JHMC) president and chief executive officer Allan Garcia reported a hike in arrivals with a recorded 10.17 percent increase since 2017.
Garcia said tourist arrivals recorded in the historical core alone reached 104,093 comparing to the 94,480 arrivals in the 2017 report.
Garcia cited the partnership with the Department of Tourism in the recently launched forest bathing at the historic yellow trail of
the camp.
The trail at the CJH area spans a trek of four kilometers through pine forest covers and is eyed as site for art installations by local artists.
Both the DOT and the JHMC have laid the foundation for the development of forest bathing as a sustainable health and wellness tourism activity in the city and the BLISTT areas.
A project by the former DOT regional director Venus Tan, who now stands a CEO of the Tourism Board, forest bathing, has been launched and has caught the attention of the public.
The project aims to develop an urban forest bathing site and become a pioneering tourism activity in the city that espouses sustainable tourism and supports protection and preservation of urban forests and protected parks.
JHMC vice president Jane Theresa Tabalingcos said people are more aware of the environment now and realize that a big chunk of the watershed is at CJH.
Tabalingcos was with the DOT as the concept of forest bathing was made and saw through its launch and projects its growth for the coming years.
Forest bathing is eyed to be an urban tourism activity that improves the health and wellbeing of people as well as establish the CJH as a forest bathing site and integrate it with existing tourism activities.
Forest bathing or shinrin-yoku which originated from Japan which literally means taking in the forest atmosphere, is a practice of baking in the sights, smells and sounds of a natural setting to improve physiological health. Basically, it is the leisurely visit to a forest, in the presence of trees. It has been proven that forest environments could lower concentrations of stress hormones called “cortisol, lower pulse rates, lowers blood pressure, increase parasympathetic nerve activity, lower sympathetic nerve activity compared with city settings.