Hot swimming pools are new attractions to tourists in Tuba town Baluda

TUBA, Benguet - The swimming pools with hot water established by private investors in recent years in this town adjacent to Baguio City have started as an attraction to local and foreign tourists, according to outgoing municipal mayor Jose Baluda.

He said that the increase of tourists only started early this year as a result of the eco-tourism campaign done by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo over the past five years in this western part of the Cordillera mountain ranges in northern Luzon.

Records show that prior to these swimming pools, the main attraction of the town some 230 kilometers north of Manila had been the world-famous Asin hotsprings and the Brown Madonna on the Rock cave chapel.

With the president’s economic program of “One Town, One Product” (OTOP), the poultry and root crop farmers had increased production that more wholesalers not only bought the local farm products but passed on to other motorists the presence of hot swimming pools with therapeutic effects to persons with minor ailments like arthritis.

Soon after, Baguio taxi drivers have related to peers that they have increased travels in the area to bring local and foreign tourists who want to experience the unique amenities of the hot swimming pools and springs.

“Even those who cannot go the more established hot swimming pools of the Province of Laguna south of Manila have started to stay for a while in Baguio City hotels and then visit for a day the natural hotsprings and swimming pools,” a local tourist from Manila said.

Photo Credits: http://riverviewwaterpark.net/