Hotel owners may have found an ally in the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez yesterday said the Small Business (SB) Corp. has P3.5 billion available funds for lending under the COVID-19 Assistance to Restart Enterprises (CARES) Travel.
This is in the light of the request of the Philippine Hotel Owners Association (PHOA) for a lifeline from the government to hotels that continue to bleed due to the pandemic.
“SB Corp. still has substantial funds for tourism,” said Lopez.
SB Corp. has closed the Bayanihan CARES on Jan. 31, 2022 but is sustaining its other COVID assistance programs to businesses, particularly to the badly hit tourism sector.
The CARES for TRAVEL has been recently expanded to include all tourism-related enterprises regardless of accreditation with the Department of Tourism. Secondary tourism enterprises and support services such as transportation, catering, events organizing, souvenir shops and the like may now apply for a loan.
CARES TRAVEL lent only P276.76 million to 567 borrowers during the duration of the program that started in 2020 due to the slow recovery of the sector.
At the Laging Handa public briefing, DOT Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said only a handful of hotels may actually need the financial assistance since most “want to go back to normal.”
“I was surprised (by the call for financial assistance) because I have always been in touch with PHOA and the hotel owners. The removal of the quarantines was advised by doctors and we followed their advice because we acknowledge (mandatory quarantines) discourage overseas Filipino workers and balikbayans from coming to the Philippines,” Puyat said.
She added 76 former quarantine hotels have expressed readiness to be converted back to leisure accommodation. Quarantines were a steady stream of revenues of hotels during the pandemic. IRMA ISIP
