As the Philippines opens its doors to foreign tourists for the first time in two years beginning today, tourism stakeholders expect to restart cautiously and gradually as hotels continue to bleed, airlines still way below capacity and international visitors seen to come in trickles in the next few months.
Benito Bengzon, o Philippine Hotel Owners Association (PHOA) executive director, at the Kapihan sa Maynical, called on the government to grant hotels a stimulus package as a lifeline to tide them over until they fully recover, especially as the quarantine requirement for fully-vaccinated visitors has been lifted. Quarantines had become a steady source of revenues of hotels during the pandemic and switching back to leisure hotels is not that easy.
Jojo Clemente, president of the Tourism Congress of the Philippines, said they do not expect a surge in tourists immediately. While there will be tourists coming in, these are the balikbayans raring to come back home and visitors from long-haul markets like those from North America and Europe whose quarantine rules have been eased.
Cielo Villaluna, spokesperson of Philippine Airlines (PAL), shared Clemente’s observation, saying bookings are still from overseas Filipinos such as workers and migrants also from the North American markets. PAL is operating 135 flights per day, just half of the 300 plus flights pre-pandemic.
Bengzon said the next six to 12 months are critical for hotels, which today operate at 15 to 20 percent occupancy; others at single digits.
PHOA has about 303 hotels of which 89 in Metro Manila are used as quarantine hotels.
Bengzon said a typical 200-room hotel needs P5 million a month to keep on operating and retain its employees.
He added the return of tourists largely depend on the availability of flights and the restrictions of the markets where the tourists come from.
Clemente concurred saying it may take time for tourists from Asia, such as Korea and Japan, to come and visit as the region has the strictest protocols for returning travelers.
In the same forum, Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat of the Department of Tourism (DOT) said the plans and program of the government for the full recovery of the tourism industry will be “put to a test starting today. “
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases recently approved the DOT’s proposal to allow the entry of fully vaccinated tourists coming from the 157 countries that have visa-free arrangements with the Philippines.
The task force also scrapped the color-coded classification system of countries based on their new coronavirus disease 2019 case status to facilitate the recovery of the heavily impacted industry.
Fully- vaccinated Filipino nationals and foreign tourists are also exempt from the 5,000-passenger arrivals cap set by the Department of Transportation.
Puyat said 76 quarantine hotels have applied to be revert to leisure hotels with 14 approved to accommodate hotel guests.
DOT- National Capital Region reported as of February 7, 68 percent or 37,348 are occupied rooms in quarantine facilities consisting of 418 hotels operating with 55,150 rooms. These hotels cater to the unvaccinated travelers completing their quarantine period, long staying guests, overseas Filipino workers ready for departure, and employees of the business process outsourcing industry.