Travel, tourism see patchy recovery

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Travel and tourism in the Philippines may see a patchy recovery, with some sectors taking up to two to three years to return to pre-pandemic levels.

But stakeholders are hopeful incentive and stimulus packages will help them bounce back soon.

Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat. (Photo from tourism.gov.ph)

At the virtual Kapihan sa Manila Bay yesterday, Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat of the Department of Tourism (DOT) said the Board of Investments (BOI) will grant a three-year tax holiday and duty-free importation on capital equipment to tourism enterprises that will renovate, modernize and upgrade their facilities.

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The incentives will help them recover the additional cost of putting up health and safety facilities.

Puyat joins stakeholders in calling for the immediate passage of the Accelerated Recovery and Investments Stimulus Act which grants P58 billion in funds to the sector as well as of the Bayanihan Act 2 which allots another P10 billion.

The funds will open up a credit facility for working capital of tourism enterprises severely impacted by the pandemic.

Puyat said the loan will carry a low to zero interest and a long repayment period of five years.

Eligible for BOI incentives are not just hotels and resorts but MICE (meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions) facilities and tourist transport companies nationwide.

Puyat said the DOT will introduce “travel bubble” initially for domestic destinations for local tourists and later to international visitors. This travel corridor opens sites with little or no coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases to travellers coming from areas with zero or low COVID-19 cases.

This will help stimulate domestic tourism which accounts for 11 percent of the economy.

Puyat said the DOT is eyeing the reopening of Boracay and alongwith Bohol will pilot the travel bubble scheme.

Tourism stakeholders believe international tourism may take a while to pick up.

Jojo Clemente, president of the Tourism Congress of the Philippines, said once a vaccine becomes available, travel and tourism can bounce back within the next 12 to 18 months. Without one, the recovery can prolong to up to 24 months.

“But this will give us time to reset, to implement all these protocols. We look at it as a glass half full instead of a glass half empty,” said Clemente who believes the travel bubble will help in the recovery as long as communities that have lower COVID infections are the ones that will be exchanging tourists.

Arthur Lopez, president of the Hotel Owners Association, said it will take at least two years for the accommodation sector to normalize and up to three years to go back to pre-COVID.

Lopez nevertheless encourages hotel and resort developers to invest and build now because it will take three years to complete their projects. “By the time they open, we (may have) fully recovered,” he said.

Ricky Isla, president and chief executive officer of AirAsia Philippines, said local airlines will be ready to take on more flights by July or August for domestic destinations but international travel would likely take a backseat.

At the earliest, Isla sees a takeoff in international travel by September.

Leisure travel remains prohibited and flights are limited to repatriation and rescue.

In a separate webinar on Tuesday, Gregor Zajc, general manager of Blue Horizons Travel & Tours Inc. said the Philippines has the opportunity to attract the long-haul market like tourists from the European Union once international travel resumes.

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Zajc said this market is more resilient and has indicated willingness to travel.

“The people who are coming to the Philippines are discerning travelers, meaning those who have traveled the world before, and usually those who have been to other destinations in Asia before. A European will first travel to Asia and go visit Thailand. On the second trip to Asia, he might then choose a different country being in Philippines or something else. This

is an advantage for us, meaning that the travelers that will be choosing Philippines as their next destination are a bit more resilient and know how to react in terms when there’s different measures in place. This I believe is (where) the Philippines will win,” Zajc said.

He said the potential of the Philippines is enormous despite the disruption.

“We will be the winner. We will use this crisis as an opportunity to mark the Philippines as a unique destination,” Zajc said.

Tourist arrivals in the Philippines dropped 54 percent in the first four months of the year to 1.3 million from 2.8 million in the same period in 2019. (I.Isip)

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