The country’s tourism sites outside the NCR Plus Bubble are poised to lose 80 percent of their market during this summer for which tourism stakeholders had pinned their hopes for recovery during this pandemic.
Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat told Konsyumer atbp on dzbb over the weekend, tourists from Metro Manila and nearby provinces account for 80 percent of visitors to famous sites like Boracay and Bohol which have since been reopened under the modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
Puyat said the Department of Tourism has allowed Baguio, which is under GCQ, to reopen.
The city will, however, prohibit travellers from NCR Plus.
She said with NCR Plus under modified enhanced community quarantine, essential travel is limited within the bubble.
She said shortly before the Holy Week, hotels in MGCQ tourism areas were reporting 80 to 100 percent occupancy but this was disrupted by the ECQ.
“This (summer) was supposed to be the time to recover lost ground,” said Puyat.
According to Puyat, 600,000 of the 4.8 million tourism workers affected by the pandemic will benefit from the P3.1-billion financial assistance provided under Bayanihan 2.
She said the P6 billion provided to micro, small and medium tourism enterprises under SB Corp. is a big help but companies would rather resume operations than get aid.
