AFTER tallying 8.26 million foreign visitor arrivals and P482.15 billion in inbound receipts last year, 2020 was shaping up to be another banner year for tourism in the Philippines. Then Covid-19 happened.
For Iloilo tour guide Araceli Naces, it took about four months for reality to sink in that the virus was likely going to wipe out her livelihood. The local government implemented an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) on March 20, but “the first and second month was like a vacation break, and I thought [Covid-19] would be over soon.” Since becoming a tour guide for the entire Western Visayas region, she was looking forward to another hectic summer schedule as before.
“Then four months passed, I realized the situation was getting worse. The pandemic was already affecting not only our country but worldwide. I was feeling the pressure and then suddenly my savings were gone! The vacation that I was enjoying became a nightmare,” she added.
During the peak summer season, Naces typically earns more than P30,000 a month “excluding tips,” handling daily tours every week. But when Iloilo went on ECQ, “all tours were stopped.” In addition, she said, she also lost her job as a special education teacher.
“Luckily, I have my family to rely on, so they helped me overcome the situation,” she narrated. “I started to stretch our budget; some of the stuff we used to buy and enjoy were given up. And yes, I also tried selling homemade skinless longganisa and lumpiang shanghai, face masks and face shields, calamansi and shrimps to sustain our needs. Some of my fellow guides are doing the same, selling items in order to generate income. So, kanya-kanyang diskarte na lang [Each to his own playbook for survival]!”
An icon falls
IN Bohol veteran hotelier Leeds Trompeta had assumed his new post as general manager of the posh Amorita Resort before the end of 2019 and was looking forward to the new year. “We maintained our average year occupancy from 2018 to 2019 but we were able to increase revenues by 15 percent, [so] we were definitely entering 2020 on a high note, forecasting at least 10-percent increase in both occupancy and revenue.”
When the community quarantines were imposed by the national and local governments to help contain the spread of the virus, Amorita had to cease operations. “We reduced our manning capacity by more than 70 percent, yet we retained enough associates to maintain our five-hectare property and pursue long-overdue improvements to our facilities,” said Trompeta.
The resort also had to refund at least P10 million worth of bookings, “mostly for the summer, but cancellations have already reached the Christmas holiday bookings as well,” as worldwide uncertainty over travel continues.
Then Amorita shifted its focus “on our displaced associates and initiated our malasakit program, where we provided basic necessities to augment their daily needs as well assist them to pivot to other forms of livelihood. Our associates remain to be our best assets and that’s the bottom line,” Trompeta averred.
But even the iconic Marco Polo Davao could not hold on. It closed its doors in June, unable to bounce back from the sudden drop in occupancy which began last December due to the earthquake that struck the province, then in January, in the aftermath of the Taal Volcano eruption, followed by Covid-19. Its closure shook the hospitality industry. (See, “Marco Polo Davao closure spooks tourism industry,” in the BusinessMirror, May 11, 2020.)
Lifeline needed
TOURISM Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat has said, of the 5.7 million workers in the tourism sector, some 4.8 million have already been displaced, “either they’ve lost their jobs, or they are working less.”
While the Duterte administration extended some form of financial assistance to the jobless under the first Bayanihan Act, just 10 percent of tourism stakeholders actually benefited from it. (See, “Over 500,000 tourism workers get P4.4 billion in wage subsidies,” in the BusinessMirror, May 13, 2020.)
It was immensely clear for Romulo-Puyat that more had to be done ASAP, to keep tourism stakeholders from falling further into a ditch of despair, with their income severely depressed.
When lawmakers started discussing the Bayanihan 2 law, she made sure the tourism sector would get a large portion of the funds that would be made available and direct these to working capital loans the stakeholders urgently needed to keep their businesses afloat.
“Every day, people text me, Viber me…they are stakeholders who have lost their jobs. They sell sundry items just to keep their families afloat. It was important for us, at the DOT [Department of Tourism], to raise those concerns directly to lawmakers so they could be helped. And thankfully, the Bicam, or the Bicameral Conference Committee of both Houses of Congress, listened to us,” she said, partly in Filipino.
The Bayanihan 2 law, signed by President Duterte on September 11, allocated P6 billion in working capital loans for DOT-accredited tourism stakeholders through government financial institutions, P3 billion for job-loss claims for tourism workers, and P1 billion in infrastructure funds to the Department of Public Works and Highways to build tourism roads. Also, P100 million was allocated to train tour guides, the industry’s important frontliners.
Tourism stakeholders’ groups and government officials are currently ironing out the details on the availment of soft loans through the SB Guarantee Corp. and jobless claims with the Department of Labor and Employment.
Backbone of the tourism industry
RELIEF measures aside, government economic managers have moved to reopen the economy amid the pandemic and help get the public back to working again amid the virus.
Under its Tourism Response and Recovery Plan, the DOT is now trying to jump-start domestic tourism via travel corridors and slowly opening up island destinations to local travelers. “We’re not saying we should not focus anymore on international tourism. But the current situation demands that we go back to the basics; we go back to the backbone of the tourism industry, which is domestic tourism,” said Romulo-Puyat.
Proof? In 2019 Filipinos took 110 million domestic trips, generating P3.1 trillion in receipts for the economy, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Also, domestic tourism accounted for 85 percent of total tourism revenues in 2019 and contributed 10.8 percent of the industry’s 12.7-percent contribution to the gross domestic product.
A few provinces and regions have heeded the DOT’s call.
As of October 1, Baguio City and the Ilocos region have allowed tourism between their residents in what’s been dubbed as the Ridge and Reef Travel Corridor. Boracay Island has also opened to more tourists outside of Western Visayas, including from general community quarantine areas like Metro Manila. “But we’re doing this under very strict health and safety conditions,” the DOT chief underscored. (See, “Sagada, other North Luzon destinations eye reopening to tourists,” in the BusinessMirror, September 23, 2020.)
For one, negative RT-PCR (real-time polymerase chain reaction) test results are essential for tourists to be able to travel within the northern corridor, as well as those wanting to frolic in the azure waters and fine white sands of Boracay. As all these regions and provinces are modified GCQ areas, as such, there are no age restrictions for visitors, explained Romulo-Puyat.
The DOT has also allowed point-to-point travel between Manila and El Nido/Miniloc, Amanpulo and Balesin. Health checks, Covid-19 testing, and relentless attention to health and sanitation are also being strictly enforced by resorts on these posh island-resorts.
Staycations are now allowed in GCQ areas, as long as the hotels that will offer these bookings have not been used as quarantine facilities for overseas Filipino workers, overseas Filipinos and frontliners. (See, “’Staycations’ now allowed under GCQ, but rapid testing required,” in the BusinessMirror, September 28, 2020.)
Still, challenges remain for the agency. “The most difficult part is trying to persuade tourism destinations to reopen,” said Romulo-Puyat “We’ve been going around, talking to stakeholders and the LGUs [local government units] down to the barangay level, to see what their concerns are if they reopen. Most of them want a hospital, or a Covid testing lab…. We all send their requests to the Department of Health,” she added.
Foreign markets still ‘top of mind’
DESPITE the focus on domestic travel, Romulo-Puyat said they are not forgetting foreign tourists. In fact, a series of TV ads has been playing abroad encouraging foreigners to dream and “wake up” in the Philippines.
The DOT’s marketing arm, the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB), even pushed through with its annual Philippine Travel Exchange (Phitex), this time on Panglao Island, Bohol, and under a hybrid structure. The event attracted 122 foreign buyers from 34 countries, and 345 seller delegates from 161 companies in various subsections of the tourism industry. (See, “Arrivals down 76%, but travel fair nets buyers,” in the BusinessMirror, September 17, 2020.)
As of October 2, based on reports from 33 percent of the sellers, there were 55 actual bookings made with total projected revenue of some P21.63 million.
It’s clear that interest in the Philippines remains high, according to Jose C. Clemente III, president of the Rajah Tours Corp., who had B2B (business to business) meetings with foreign buyers during the last Philippine Travel Exchange event. “They are looking forward to sending clients here. They are really just waiting for international travel restrictions to ease up,” he said. Many of the buyers he spoke with were from Malaysia, the United States, Australia and Singapore.
“They want to know more about destinations that are off the beaten track, where there is no mass tourism,” said Clemente. He cited Siquijor, Dumaguete, provinces in the north, Iloilo and Bacolod, as possible places for his buyers’ clients to explore.
Digital is the way to go
PHITEX also crystallized the possibility that MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) events could be held, under a hybrid fashion, said Romulo-Puyat, such that some delegates can be in a local venue, but the rest are hooked up online, participating virtually.
The DOT has underscored the importance of digitization as a way to reduce physical contact between tourism enterprises and frontliners, with their guests. For one, it has mandated the use of contact-less payment systems in establishments.
The TPB will be launching the Visitor Information and Travel Assistance (Visita) app this month, first pioneered by Baguio and the Ilocos region, a digital platform that can help monitor tourists and allow them to accomplish forms digitally.
With all these, there may be reason to be optimistic that the tourism industry will soon turn a corner.
“I’m looking forward [to] the opening of our tourist spots for domestic tourists under the new normal. Boracay is opening its doors already and if I’m not wrong Bohol may follow soon. Hopefully Iloilo will be next because Panay Island landed the 25th spot for Best Destination in Asia in 2020 of TripAdvisor’s Travelers Choice Awards, and Iloilo was named Asean Clean Tourist City awardee for 2020-2022,” enthused tour guide Naces.
She remains hopeful “the tourism industry will bounce back again. I just want to make our city an example. Even though we have the pandemic, the beautification projects, the cleaning of the city has been maintained, and more murals are being added. I can’t wait to show it to our tourists once we are open again. Iloilo may not be as active as before, but given six to 12 months, it’ll be back in a different and more positive way under the new normal.”
Image credits: Contributed Photo