CONTINUING travel restrictions here and abroad to contain the spread of Covid-19 have pulled down inbound tourism arrivals by 80.6 percent to 1.32 million, from January to October 2020.
Latest data from the Department of Tourism (DOT) obtained by the BusinessMirror, also showed tourism receipts fell 79.7 percent to just P81.05 billion, from P398.93 billion in the same period in 2019.
Using data provided by the Bureau of Immigration, DOT reported that January 2020 recorded the highest number of international tourists in the country at 787,307, an increase of 8.84 percent from January 2019. “Arrivals started to slow down by the month of February to 418,126, a drop of 45.48 percent. Tourist traffic further plunged in March to 113,286, a decrease of 84.14 percent due to air travel restrictions. There are no arrivals from April to October due to the ban on inbound international tourist travel,” the DOT said.
Similarly, for visitor receipts, January also posted the highest in the current year at some P47.02 billion, which was higher by 9.1 percent than January 2019. “Consequent to few visitor arrivals, February 2020 visitor receipts amounted to P27.12 billion, a decrease of 40.21 percent. March 2020 visitor receipts were at P6.91 billion, an 83.6-percent decline. No tourist spending was recorded in April to October,” the government agency noted.
The DOT is currently focused on reviving domestic tourism due to continuing travel restrictions abroad, although foreigners seem to be keen still on vacationing in the Philippines. (See, “PHL pins hopes on ‘revenge travel’ in 2021,” in the BusinessMirror, Nov. 17, 2020.)
In June, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat had brought up the idea of having travel bubbles or travel corridors between zero-Covid countries in Asia and zero-Covid destinations in the Philippines. This has yet to pan out, however.
DOT spokesman and Undersecretary Benito C. Bengzon Jr. told ANC on Monday, the travel bubbles are currently between newly reopened domestic destinations. “We started with the Ridge and Reef Travel Corridor which involves Baguio City and neighboring provinces in Region I—Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union and Pangasinan. So essentially, the idea is to contain the movement of travelers within and among those areas that I mentioned.”
Baguio, Ilocos Norte and Sur have only recently started accepting tourists even from general community quarantine areas like Metro Manila.
“We also have a travel bubble, in a way, between Manila and Boracay and also El Nido. Right now, we don’t have any travel bubble programs with any foreign destinations because inbound travel to the Philippines is still restricted. But we’ve done some preparatory work and know more or less which destinations in Southeast Asia or at least in Asia will be part of the travel bubble program, which will most likely involve our resort destinations,” he added.
Travel bubbles among European countries and in Asia have largely been put on hold, due to a resurgence of Covid-19 infections in the regions. European travelers had taken advantage of the summer season to visit neighboring countries which had thought it had licked the virus.
Now on a second lockdown are Germany, France, Spain while in Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore were supposed to launch a travel bubble on November 22, but have postponed it for two weeks after the Chinese territory recorded a spike in Covid-19 infections.