Travel industry hopes tourists return to Philippines soon

MANILA, Philippines — Tourism officials and key industry players hope foreign tourists would visit the country again before midyear as they grapple with the fear caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Tourism Congress of the Philippines (TCP) president Jose Clemente III said they hope tour officials could entice the international market to come back by the second quarter of 2020.

“Hopefully by the second quarter we resume getting back arrivals from the international market,” Clemente told reporters at a press briefing by the TCP and the Department of Tourism (DOT) last Monday.

The TCP is now looking at the domestic market for the remainder of first quarter and on to the second quarter of this year, he added.

At the same briefing, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat encouraged local and foreign tourists to travel to the country and stressed that it is safe to do so.

She said President Duterte might visit Boracay, Cebu and Bohol next week to promote domestic tourism.

The DOT would roll out more marketing and promotion projects soon to boost local tourism, said DOT Assistant Secretary Howard Lance Uyking.

Uyking they would use social media applications like TikTok and tap so-called influencers on the internet.

Puyat expressed concern that the COVID-19 scare could hit the tourism industry hard.

She disclosed that the country could lose around P14.8 billion this month alone after the ban was imposed on travelers coming from China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

Shortly after the country declared its first case of COVID-19 late last month, Duterte issued a travel ban on those flying to and from China, Hong Kong, Macau and recently Taiwan to prevent the spread of the virus, which originated in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, China.

Puyat yesterday told the House committees on tourism and economic affairs that the travel ban on China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau could mean an estimated P43 billion in lost tourism revenue in the next three months.

She revealed that the travel ban would prevent over 795,000 tourists from China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan from visiting the country until April.

“The expected reduction of tourist arrivals from the markets affected will result in forgone revenues that will carry over until April of this year,” she told lawmakers.

Puyat bared that the combined projected revenue from China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan in February alone would have been P16.806 billion if not for the travel ban.

The revenues for March and April, on the other hand, were pegged at P14.112 billion and P11.988 billion, respectively.

The DOT chief further bared that the Civil Aviation Board already recorded 465 cancelled flights per week as a result of the travel ban implemented by the government.

Tourists from mainland China constitute about 20 percent of the country’s total tourist arrivals over the past several years.

But Puyat assured lawmakers that her department is implementing measures to mitigate the repercussions of the travel ban. 

Apart from travel promotions, Puyat said they would also implement partnerships with travel agents, promote summer packages and multi-destination passes and encourage government offices to hold out-of-town seminars. 

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