The Korean Impact on Baguio
March 8, 2007 by lisa
Filed under business & economy, featured
Baguio City has never been a stranger to foreign nationals visiting and living here. In fact, it was “Little America,” a mining and recreation town built by the Americans in the early 20th century in the Philippines’ Cordillera mountain range. It was only after the 1990 earthquake and US Bases turnover in 1991 that Baguio has turned very Filipino. And not native Cordillera at that — it has turned more Ilocano, not only in dialect but more in terms of attitude.
In its heyday in the 1980s, Baguio would see busloads of American, Japanese and Chinese tourists, all armed with the latest cameras, taking package tours that included playing at the Hyatt Terraces Casino, horseback riding at Wright Park, shopping at Mines View Park, and golf at Camp John Hay.
After Baguio was devastated, foreign tourists stopped coming and the lowlanders migrated to Baguio in droves to study in our “naturally airconditioned” schools, most of which do not require an entrance exam to enter, just tuition money.
Now Baguio sees more foreign nationals than ever before and they come mostly from one country — South Korea.
We just...
