Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat speaks during the virtual recognition of Women Champions of Sustainability hosted by The Conrad Manila on August 16, 2021. (Screengrab from Conrad Manila’s YouTube video)
by Bernie Cahiles-Magkilat, Manila Bulletin
Government and the tourism private sectors declared the Philippines is ready to accept fully vaccinated foreign tourists from 157 visa-free countries starting Thursday, Feb. 10, even as hotel owners are asking for financial assistance to restart operations.
“We are as ready as we can be,” said Tourism Secretary BernadetteE Romulo-Puyat said at the Kapihan Sa Manila Bay virtual forum along with other key tourism stakeholders on Wednesday.
“These are exciting times for Philippine tourism. We have been ready since 2020; with the significant dwindling of new COVID cases, the Department of Tourism (DOT) can now push forward with our plans and programs for the full recovery of the Philippine Tourism industry. Those among you who follow developments in the travel and tourism sector know that tomorrow, February 10, we will begin the next chapter in the road to recovery,” said Romulo-Puyat
Benito “Bong” Bengzon, former DOT Undersecretary and executive director of the Philippine Hotel Owners Association, welcomed the country’s reopening, stressing this would provide them a lifeline after experiencing heavy financial losses almost two years into the pandemic.
However, Bengzon emphasized that the next 6 to 12 months would be difficult for the hotel owners as they restart and reopen operations. Thus, he raised the need for “financial assistance to tie us over the next 12 months.”
Bengzon said that many of their member hotels are reporting single-digit occupancy and are banking only on quarantine guests.
In the same forum, Jojo Clemente, president of Tourism Congress of the Philippines (TCP), said he does not expect foreign tourist arrivals immediately or in the next two months although he believes that tourists are coming back within the year.
“We have done our best to anticipate all kinds of situations as we reopen,” he said.
But just like Bengzon, Clemente emphasized that reopening operations after almost two years of almost dormant activity “takes a lot of effort to get it running.”
With that, he said, they are also coming up with various scenarios.
“But we are confident we are on the right path to see the light,” he said.
For his part, Walid Wafik SM Hotels and Convention Center (SMHCC) Senior Vice President and General Manager, also declared their readiness to accept foreign tourist arrivals and are looking forward to welcome domestic tourists and bookings at their convention centers.
Wafik, however, stressed the need to always observe and enforce health and safety protocols for the meeting, incentives, conferences & exhibition (MICE) sector. He urged “not to let our guards down, our safety protocols will be in place.”
He said that MICE organizers are beginning to block dates for their annual events, signaling the reopening of this sector.
Wafik said that SMHCC will not raise rates even if the past two years had been very painful for them as they incurred revenue loss and half of their staff gone.
He stressed that that raising prices is the last thing they would do in this time. What is important, he said, is to bring back confidence of the domestic market so the industry can bounce back to the pre-pandemic level.
The priority for SMHCC, he said, is “to go back to the 2019 volume wise, revenue will come later.”
But in terms of readiness, Wafik said that their nine hotels and 7 convention centers are ready to move forward.
“We have accepted losses and dealt with manpower and staffing to keep everybody onboard and engaged,” he added.
Meantime, Puyat-Romulo said that quarantine hotels operate at 67 percent capacity. She said that hotels and tourist accommodation facilities are expected to enjoy higher capacities of as much as 80 percent under Alert Level 2.
According to the DOT- National Capital Region (DOT-NCR), there is a 68 percent or 37,348 occupied rooms in Quarantine facilities consisting of 418 hotels operating with 55,150 rooms, as of February 7. These hotels cater to the unvaccinated travelers completing their quarantine period, long staying guests, OFWs ready for departure, and BPO employees.
As much as 76 quarantine hotels have submitted a Letter of Intent to shift to regular hotels and cater to leisure tourists.
“I am excited about the prospects of a healthy rebound in tourism for a good number of reasons: the high vaccination rate among our tourism workers, the public health safeguards and guidelines that have been put in place and the number of new tourism circuits that have been developed,” she said.
As of February 4, the DOT said that 92. 51 percent or 317, 892 out of 349, 534 tourism workers have received their COVID-19 jabs.
Tourism destinations with 100 percent vaccination rate among its tourism workers include: Baguio City; Aurora; Palawan towns Coron, El Nido and San Vicente ; Puerto Princesa City, and Camiguin island. The DOT offices are also facilitating the roll-out of booster shots for eligible tourism workers.
On a regional basis, the NCR registered the highest coverage for tourism workers with 99.91 percent.
