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MANILA — Baguio has big plans to boost tourism including planting cherry blossoms and tulips in public parks, building a railway and cable car line, and improving parking spaces and sidewalks, its mayor said Friday.

Famed for its cool weather, Baguio welcomed some 1.5 million visitors in 2018, according to the city tourism office.

The city expects to welcome more holidaymakers while Tagaytay City, a neighboring tourist hotspot, reels from an eruption of Taal Volcano, said Mayor Benjamin Magalong.

But amid the influx of tourists, Baguio has lost 355 hectares of green cover from 2014 to 2017 to give way to new developments.

The city, Magalong said, can only accommodate 50,000 vehicles, but residents alone had around 64,000 registered vehicles.

The local government is working on the following projects to address these problems, he said.

DEVELOPMENT MORATORIUM

President Rodrigo Duterte approved "in principle" a temporary moratorium on the construction of commercial buildings in the city, said Magalong.

Local officials are working with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea's office to "formalize" the plan that was also "strongly endorsed by the environment, interior and tourism departments, he said.

The moratorium, he said, will also ban the cutting of trees and mandate a review of all buildings' sewer system.

CHERRY BLOSSOMS, TULIPS

Baguio is working with donors to cultivate cherry blossoms in the city.

The local government also recently imported 25 tulip bulbs from Holland, which it planned to plant in Burnham and other parks, the mayor said.

Magalong said he and other officials next week would go to Pasig to study and replicate its collection of environmental and congestion fees from visitors.

CABLE CARS, MONORAIL

The Baguio government has secured P145 million and will ask the the same amount from the public works department next week to improve its sidewalks.

The city government on Thursday also received a consultancy and construction firm's feasibility study on using cable cars and building a 2.9-kilometer monorail in Baguio, said its mayor.

However, Baguio needs to shell out P2.1 billion in 10 years for the project so local official will have to re-negotiate, he said.

MULTI-LEVEL BURNHAM PARKING

Local official will hold a "series of consultation" on plans for a multi-level parking building that will "put order" in frequently packed Burnham Park, said Magalong.

The city government is also finalizing the design and billing for other projects in the 25-hectare park to get P480 million in funds from the tourism department, he said.

NO LOCKDOWN

Baguio cannot be shuttered to tourists during the rehabilitation program because it serves as a gateway to neighboring towns and is a center of commerce and education in the region, he said.

"We would rather discourage people to go to Baguio City or probably advise them to take mass transport na lang, instead of bringing their cars," he said.