MANILA, 15 June 2020: Tourism will bounce back, but travellers need to be assured that safety will come first before tourism resumes a Department of Tourism (DOT) executive told the Philippines News Agency at the weekend.
“The very core of tourism has been affected by the pandemic. The best thing that the government can do is ensure that travel is safe to bring the consumer confidence in travel and business,” DOT – National Capital Region Director Woodrow Maquiling told a Tourismo TV webinar.
Maquiling shared that a recovery plan has been laid out to help tourism firms stay afloat and that the accreditation of accommodation establishments, as well as restaurants, was ongoing to build travel confidence.
“The TRRP (Tourism Response and Recovery Plan) process relies on different national tourism organi\sations and local governments so that we are able to get where we want to go after this pandemic,” Maquiling said.
Prior to the pandemic outbreak, Philippine tourism was breaking records with 8.3 million tourist arrivals in 2019 alone. In 2018, it generated more than 5.4 million jobs, contributing to 12.7% of the economy.
As several areas in the country shift to modified general community quarantine, protocol-based leisure activities are expected to resume in the coming months.
Last week, the government approved the reopening of Boracay to Western Visayas tourists starting 16 June according to the PNA report.
