philippine tourism covid 19

Rebooting Philippine Tourism from the COVID-19 Pandemic

Revitalizing tourism activities has become one of the primary concerns for the Philippines. In the short run, domestic tourism is expected to play a vital role in supporting the initial recovery phase of travel. With its presumed impact on travelers’ behavior and business operations, an analysis of the Filipino travelers’ sentiments and the existing domestic travel market is necessary in presenting effective strategies in the midst of the new normal in Philippine travel.

Introduction

The Philippine tourism economy has been heavily hit by the measures implemented to contain the spread of COVID-19. The pandemic has prompted an unprecedented crises with projections and revised scenarios suggesting that the shock in global tourism could be at 60-80% for the entire 2020, translating to a loss of approximately 67 million international arrivals or USD 80 billion in exports from tourism, while putting 100 to 120 million direct tourism jobs at risk. While affecting all economies, the Asia-Pacific region has been projected to suffer with the highest impact, affecting about 33 million arrivals (United Nations World Tourism Organization [UNWTO], 2020).

Tourism is a significant pillar in many economies in the region, especially in the Philippines, where in 2019, it contributed 12.7% share in the country’s GDP, and employed 14 out of 100 or 5.7 million of Filipinos (Philippine Statistics Authority [PSA], 2020). Following the outbreak of the pandemic, estimates for the first three months of 2020 suggest that revenue from foreign arrivals decreased by 35%, and employment in the industry may be reduced by about 33,800 to 56,600 (CGTN, 2020). Several months into the implementation of  stay-at-home  and quarantine policies, travel in the Philippines remains uncertain. Travel restrictions and limits in people-to-people interactions are likely to be in place for a long period of time, thus bringing the industry to a standstill.

With the expectation that domestic travel will recover faster than international tourism, insights on the possible strategies that can help bootstrap the Philippine tourism economy should be discussed. Critical to this approach is an understanding of the Filipino travelers’ sentiments towards travel and a marketing analysis which scrutinizes ways to revive travel demand and resume operations in the face of the new normal in tourism. This article will look into the variety of conducted surveys regarding travel perceptions and will reintroduce the concept of  space travel  to guide the creation of strategies towards travel in the new normal.

Redefining Travel in the New Normal: The Filipino Travelers’ Sentiments

In these times of uncertainty in the outlook of travel in the Philippines, a data-driven approach to support the revival of the industry has become an imperative. During the period of March to May 2020, several public and private organisations deemed it necessary to conduct surveys to understand stakeholders’ perceptions on travel in relation to the pandemic. Given mobility restrictions, surveys have been conducted online while targeting a range of stakeholders from enterprises, decision makers, to tourists. Conducted in varying time frames, general survey results suggest that travel sentiments might have evolved over periods of time. Insights on travel perceptions are necessary in crafting strategies for tourism recovery. Thus, consumer perception on the future of travel should be taken into consideration in planning interventions and strategies. Table 1 presents the surveys conducted in relation to travel and pandemic.

Photo credit: https://bit.ly/3ag2GUz

From the results of the surveys, several insights about the future of travel in the Philippines were made: First, domestic travel will be a priority. Travelers opt to either engage in land travel or air travel. Second, travelers will prioritise travel in rural, secluded, and natural areas once restrictions are lifted. Travel away from mainstream and overcrowded destinations are expected, although beach destinations are still considered ideal destinations post-pandemic. Furthermore, due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, travelers are now more open to digital travel experiences. Similarly, travelers are likely to choose customised travel experiences over packaged group tours. Third, health and safety protocols will be their number one priority once travel resumes. Thus, effective communication of safety measures and protocols implemented in destinations and enterprises will greatly influence travel choices. Perception towards the health and safety in travel will therefore predict where travelers will travel, when they will be traveling, and what kind of experiences they hope to obtain. Fourth, while domestic travel is expected to resume within four to twelve months after easing of travel restrictions, sentiments are primarily dictated by perceptions on public health and safety. Finally, given that the pandemic has affected people’s source of income and their personal finances, travelers seek more cost-effective experiences.

Re-Introducing  Space Travel

As emphasised in the webinar entitled  Space travel: A conversation on strategies to revitalize Philippine tourism post-COVID-19  ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq-Co_DWg8E ) hosted by the AIM- Dr. Andrew L. Tan Center for Tourism last 28 July 2020, much has been said about the world getting smaller, we forget that the world is actually big. There are still so many places to explore and to visit, much to learn and to unlearn. Overcrowding (i.e.,  mass tourism ) is no longer an option because of the established physical/social distancing, health and safety protocols that require decongestion of tourist attractions. To care for earth by giving nature room to flourish, to give fellow travellers the room to breathe, to explore, to grow, to reflect and participate in the lives of others, and to give destination stakeholders time to recover from visitor activities is the essence of  space travel . It is a literal practise of giving each other and the earth space.

Tourists who routinely return to familiar destinations are considered  second home tourists . These tourists are in the best position to care for a destination because they are invested in this as their go-to place for sanctuary. On the other hand, for those who travel to experience destinations from a distance, risking the alteration of local behaviour and culture are deemed  fishbowl tourists . By including activities that increase their involvement in local custom, rather than just mere observation can transform these tourists and their attitude towards travel. Those who immerse themselves and make their experience a journey is called the  inspired travellers , who imbibe sustainable tourism when they protect and safeguard the earth by their conscious defence and accountability of environments and travel behaviour.

Until restrictions are lifted and travelling returns to normal, tourism needs to adjust and adapt to reflect the present restrictions, initiating a new way of serving travellers called  transition tourism . This type of tourism distributes the business amongst many stakeholders – accommodations, transportation, alimentation, security, and sanitation – in small groups triggering a collaborative rebooting of a local economy in many areas. Thus, for space travel to take root, transition tourism must inspire fishbowl and mass tourists to become inspired travellers (see Figure 1).

By working together, stakeholders and travellers alike, in stimulating local economies as a tight organism is to  think small . It reduces the unwieldiness of the task of re-booting economies and industries. When each one of us does our little bits, we can save our big world by thinking small.

Moving Forward: From Crisis Response to Recovery

Further discussions, through webinars, have been initiated among experts and stakeholders on rebooting Philippine tourism. In the webinar titled  Bootstrapping Philippine tourism: Recalibrating our priorities during and after COVID-19  ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kNhIZqy92I ) hosted by the AIM-Dr. Andrew L. Tan Center for Tourism last 03 June 2020, the following discussions have been featured: best practices on how tourism industries recover from disasters; strategies on how tourism stakeholders can manage COVID-19’s impacts; and insights on resilient recovery from a disaster risk-reduction management lens and how these can be applied for tourism recovery efforts.

During the webinar, Aileen C. Clemente (President, Rajah Travel Corporation) highlighted the following lessons from the pandemic: “it takes a while for people to get from philosophical discussion to general frame working to actual implementation”; “those who had a lot of excuses not to implement what needed to be implemented have no choice but to now implement them; and “greed has been tempered”. From these, Clemente cited the four stages of recovery as per the World Travel & Tourism Council – managing and mitigating the crisis, restarting the sector’s operations, reaching recovery, and redesign for the new normal.

In line with this, Maria Cherry Lyn S. Rodolfo (Consultant, Department of Tourism) explicated that the tourism industry must have a calibrated recovery plan, in which domestic tourism should be given priority. That is, tourism authorities and enterprises must incessantly develop safety and health protocols that will ensure domestic travel is safe, secure, and seamless. Rodolfo also emphasised that the pandemic warranted the need for “strong, innovative, and responsive network” in moving towards recovery, reset, and resiliency. Rodolfo also highlighted the role of “cohesive and collaborative networks” in tourism reboot. There should be: call to action for inclusive recovery assistance, innovation, infrastructure, and institutional strengthening; community engagement in utilizing the resources of networks and in leveraging local with national and international networks; and a communication plan that will cascade tourism reboot strategies to both existing strong and weak networks in the industry.

In doing so, Clemente argued that in the new normal, repositioning product offerings, raising levels of service, defining world-class destination, re-examining consumption of tourism products and services, and increasing awareness about mass tourism are essential. Similarly, Lesley Jeanne Y. Cordero (Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist, World Bank) stressed that in transitioning towards the new normal, there is a need to redefine tourist experience and destination management; invest in innovative and creative ways of product development; promote sustainability, inclusivity, and resiliency; recalibrate travel timelines, concepts, spaces and experiences; shift and share burden by collaborating with government, stakeholders, communities and tourists.  

While information about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has already dominated discourses on tourism, only a few discussions have been made regarding strategies to accelerate tourism recovery. With tourism activities at a standstill, an opportunity to adapt new models for conducting tourism activities has opened. More than ever, the role of tourism stakeholders in transitioning to the new normal has become more apparent.

In addressing the question on how tourism can recover after the COVID-19 pandemic, we analysed existing data regarding travel perceptions and conducted a marketing analysis to identify ways to revive travel demand and operations in the new normal. Our analysis suggest that existing business models may have become obsolete, thereby needing adjustments and re-assessments. While travel restrictions remain, transition tourism takes place. Crucial at this period is considering travelers’ perceptions and sentiments. Following the findings in the various surveys conducted, travelers are expected to engage in tourism activities with health and safety as their priority, which further suggests their preference towards natural areas and uncrowded destinations, digital travel, and customised experiences.

Reflected by these findings is a paradigm shift in the future of travel—from  fishbowl tourism  to  inspired travellers,  which also tantamount to a shift from mass tourism to a more sustainable form of tourism. However, this shift does not occur without the collaborative rebooting of the local economy by using local tourism as a springboard. Thus, stakeholders need to work together, along with tourists, to create a tightly knit industry that fosters  thinking small .

• CGTN. (2020). Philippines Q1 tourism revenue dips 35% due to COVID-19. https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-05-02/Philippines-Q1-tourism-revenue-dips-35-due-to-COVID-19-Q9MV8ZEnW8/index.html
• Department of Tourism, Dr. Andrew L. Tan Center for Tourism, & Guide to the Philippines (DOT, ALTCFT, GTTP). (2020, June). The Philippine Travel Survey Report: Insights on Filipino Travelers’ Sentiments on the New Normal. Department of Tourism, Asian Institute of Management, Guide to the Philippines.  https://guidetothephilippines.ph/ph-travel-survey .
• Experience Philippines. (2020, May). How Filipinos view traveling after COVID-19 flattens?  https://www.experience.ph/poll-how-filipinos-view-traveling-after-covid-19-flattens/ .
• Filinvest Hospitality Corporation and Chroma Hospitality Inc. (2020, June). Domestic travel sentiment survey.  https://indd.adobe.com/view/30521fd3-30fa-4ba2-b165-919e100569c3?fbclid=IwAR05IrayFDrJfKvoCfq5CDyzxcdawAra34OO_NuRXAidwU-JzXtcmYAsuO0 .
• Tajara Hospitality and Horwath HTL. (2020, April). Hotel sentiment survey 2020 (Impact of COVID-19).  https://cdn.horwathhtl.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/04/Sentiment-Survey_Philippines_Hotels_Covid-Impact.pdf .
• TwoEco, Inc. (2020). Philippine tourism after the pandemic. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jw57pIvX0fh7l1y739HGk46COUOpRNFI/view.
• Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). (2020). Contribution of Tourism to the Philippine Economy is 12.7 percent in 2018. https://psa.gov.ph/content/contribution-tourism-philippine-economy-127-percent-2018
• PwC Philippines. (2020, July). Impact of COVID-19 on the Philippine tourism indusry.  https://www.pwc.com/ph/en/publications/tourism-pwc-philippines/tourism-covid-19.html .
• United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). (2020). International Tourist Numbers could fall 60-80% in 2020. https://www.unwto.org/news/covid-19-international-tourist-numbers-could-fall-60-80-in-2020

Dr. Andrew L. Tan Center for Tourism

Philippines set to ease restrictions on fully vaccinated international tourists

Jan 28, 2022 • 3 min read

The Philippines is reopening to vaccinated tourists without quarantine from February © Getty Images

The  Philippines has been largely cut off to foreign visitors since the start of the pandemic but that's set to change next month.

With powdery beaches, including  Boracay's  5km signature White Beach, world-class surf and dive spots, UNESCO World Heritage sites, and more than 7000 islands spread across the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Philippines has plenty to offer tourists. But since the pandemic began in March 2020, most have been cut off or subject to strict quarantine rules.

Starting February 10, that will change when border restrictions are eased for travelers from 157 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Australia, South Korea, Germany and more.

They'll be permitted to visit the Philippines without quarantine—if they are vaccinated against COVID-19 and test negative for the virus.

Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat said [the reopening] "will contribute significantly to job restoration, primarily in tourism-dependent communities, and in the reopening of businesses that have earlier shut down."

Initially, the Philippines had planned to reopen in December but that was postponed when the Super-typhoon Rai struck; wiping out resorts, restaurants and cafes in tourist destinations, particularly the popular surfing and diving spot Siargao where, per NPR, the recovery is ongoing .

COVID-19 in the Philippines

The Philippines—a nation of 110 million people—has one of the lowest vaccination rates in Asia with just 50% of the population double jabbed and a slow booster campaign rollout. Since the end of December, the country has been experiencing a surge in new COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant but, according to the New York Times, health officials are reporting milder cases  and domestic restrictions are easing.

What you need to know before visiting the Philippines

Fully vaccinated returning Filipinos can travel to the Philippines without quarantine from February 1; fully vaccinated foreign travelers can visit from February 10.

Travelers from the list of 157 approved countries are permitted to visit the Philippines without a visa if their stay is under 21 days, a border policy that has been in place since before the pandemic. They're required to have a return or outbound ticket and a passport that is valid for at least six months from the date of arrival.

To be considered fully vaccinated, arrivals must have had at least two doses of any COVID-19  vaccine approved by the World Health Organization , or one shot of a Johnson & Johnson vaccine. An official certificate of vaccination is accepted as proof.

Arrivals also have to test negative for COVID-19 within 48 hours prior to departing for the Philippines.

Unvaccinated foreign arrivals are banned from traveling to the Philippines starting February 16. Children under the age of 18 are exempt.

COVID-19 restrictions vary across destinations in the Philippines , though most resorts, restaurants, museums and tourist attractions are open with some capacity limits in place. Check the Philippines' official tourism website for the latest updates before you go

You might also like: The 12 best beaches in the Philippines The Philippines for beginners: 7 first-timer fails to avoid on your trip No more 7-day quarantine as Thailand encourages vaccinated tourists to return

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Eager for visitors, the Philippines reopens to international tourists.

The Southeast Asian nation had closed its borders to most visitors for nearly two years.

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By Jason Gutierrez

• Feb. 10, 2022

MANILA — The Philippines reopened to international tourists on Thursday for the first time in almost two years, as it looks to kick-start an economy hit hard by the pandemic and the measures taken to control it.

Tourists from 157 countries that have a no-visa arrangement with the Philippines are now welcome, provided they are fully vaccinated and can show a negative coronavirus test, the government said.

The Philippine tourism secretary, Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, said reopening the sector was part of the government’s overall program to revitalize the economy, which has suffered greatly in the health crisis but slightly recovered last year.

“We haven’t had good news for a long time,” she said, adding that she was confident the change would bring back jobs and revenue lost during the pandemic.

Unvaccinated travelers will still need to check into quarantine facilities on arrival, she said, but fully vaccinated Filipino nationals and foreigners would not.

She stressed that nearly all workers in the country’s tourism sector have been vaccinated, and that her department was also helping tourism workers get booster shots.

All hotels in the Philippines have also gone through and completed safety audits, she said.

The Philippines, with a population of 110 million, has recorded an average of about 6,500 new cases a day over the past week, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. That represents a sharp drop from less than a month ago, when the country was recording more than 30,000 cases a day.

The “careful reopening of the economy” came amid strong lobbying from Ms. Romulo-Puyat, who noted that tourism-related industries suffered tremendously from the health-induced slowdown. The Philippines’ economy grew 5.6 percent last year, after a harsh recession in 2020.

The reopening was originally set for December but was delayed when the highly transmissible Omicron variant spread around the world.

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To Build Up Tourism, Philippines Loosens Pandemic Restrictions For Filipinos

Ashley Westerman

The tourism industry in the Philippines lost some $8 billion in 2020 because of the pandemic. Filipinos are being encouraged to travel domestically to try to restart a crucial sector of the economy.

NOEL KING, HOST:

Millions of people in the Philippines work in tourism, and it's a key part of that country's economy. But the pandemic obliterated the industry. In an attempt to revive it, the government is loosening restrictions and pushing Filipinos to travel domestically. Here's Ashley Westerman from Manila.

(SOUNDBITE OF KNOCKING)

KYRA CABAERO: Room check.

(SOUNDBITE OF KEYCARD BEEPING, DOOR OPENING)

ASHLEY WESTERMAN, BYLINE: At the Joy Nostalg Hotel & Suites Manila in Pasig, an upscale part of Manila, marketing director Kyra Cabaero shows me around one of the hotel's standard executive rooms.

CABAERO: We have a fully equipped kitchen already in the studio room. It comes with either a king size bed or two twin beds.

WESTERMAN: Crisp white sheets, a plush white couch, white tile floor - the room is pristine.

CABAERO: As you can see, it's actually quite bigger than regular hotel rooms.

WESTERMAN: There's also something a bit different about this room.

CABAERO: We now offer a QR code. So guests can just scan this, and this will connect them with everything about the hotel. So that's the hotel directory, the room service menu.

WESTERMAN: This is just one of the many COVID protocols the hotel has put in place in order for it to become one of a handful in the metro Manila area certified for staycation bookings.

CABAERO: We have already been inspected and audited and are following the standards for safety and health for DOT.

WESTERMAN: That's the Department of Tourism. Cabaero says the hotel has been impacted financially by COVID, so they jumped at the chance when it arose in May for visitors from within the national capital region bubble to book hotel rooms like these to get away while not getting too far away.

This staycation scheme is just one idea the Philippine government has put forth in an effort to restart the country's pandemic-shattered tourism industry. Pre-COVID, the industry made up more than 12% of the country's overall GDP. A large majority of that was domestic travel. In an email statement to NPR, the Department of Tourism says domestic travel will help restart the battered sector. But while the department says it's doing all it can for a safe reopening, many experts are not on board, even with staycations.

JOSHUA SAN PEDRO: There is still some relative risk, especially if we're talking about staycations by people who aren't from the same household.

WESTERMAN: That's Joshua San Pedro, a primary care provider in Manila. Even though the Philippines' case numbers have gone down after a huge spike in April and May, San Pedro says traveling outside of the home is still too risky. Earlier this month, the Philippines also started some domestic travel between provinces, most notably to some beach destinations like Boracay and Palawan. San Pedro says that adds even more risk.

SAN PEDRO: There's still a lot of cases in the provinces. Until maybe testing is better - and then second is really the vaccine rollout.

WESTERMAN: Which has been slow in the Philippines, with just about 2% of the population fully vaccinated to date. E.J. Fletchitero of Marikina City is not vaccinated and says he will not travel right now.

When do you think you will eventually travel?

E J FLETCHITERO: Maybe if we have all get the vaccines.

WESTERMAN: And not yet getting the jab isn't the only thing keeping him home. The 31-year-old cruise ship worker has also not worked in over a year.

FLETCHITERO: (Speaking Tagalog).

WESTERMAN: He says money's a bit tight right now to pay for a ticket or a hotel room.

Jerome Dagpulo, a food delivery driver, shares the sentiment.

JEROME DAGPULO: (Speaking Tagalog).

WESTERMAN: He says he's currently making about 700 pesos per day, the equivalent of $14 American, which he says is barely enough to just live on.

For NPR News, I'm Ashley Westerman in Manila.

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Coronavirus

Coronavirus Philippines reopens to fully vaccinated, COVID-negative tourists for the first time in two years

The Philippines has lifted a nearly two-year ban on foreign travellers in a lifesaving boost for its tourism and related industries as its Omicron-fuelled COVID-19 surge eases.

Key points:

• Tourists who are fully vaccinated and test negative to the virus will be allowed to enter the Philippines
• The Philippines government hopes the border reopening will restore jobs and revenue in tourism
• Originally, the reopening was scheduled for December 1 but was pushed back because of Omicron

From today, foreign travellers from 157 countries that have visa-free arrangements with the Philippines — who have been fully vaccinated and have tested negative for the virus — will be welcomed back and will no longer be required to quarantine upon arrival.

The Philippines government also ended a risk classification system that banned travellers from the worst-hit countries.

"We will begin the next chapter in the road to recovery," Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat said.

She added that the border reopening would restore jobs and generate revenue across tourism-related enterprises and communities.

The Philippines imposed one of the world's longest lockdowns and strictest, police-enforced quarantine restrictions to quell a pandemic that caused its worst economic recession since the 1940s and pushed unemployment and hunger to record levels.

More than a million Filipinos lost their jobs in tourism businesses and destinations in the first year of the pandemic alone, according to government statistics.

Tourism destinations, including popular beach and tropical island resorts, resembled ghost towns at the height of pandemic lockdowns, and a volcanic eruption and typhoons exacerbated losses.

Reopening postponed

The reopening had been set for December 1 but was postponed as the highly contagious COVID-19's Omicron variant spread.

Less than a thousand new cases were added daily during the Christmas holidays, when large crowds of shoppers trooped back to malls and restaurants, despite constant government warnings.

The subsequent surge peaked above 39,000 infections in one day in mid-January, but has since eased.

Health officials reported about 3,600 infections on Wednesday, with 69 deaths, and have declared the entire archipelago, except for one southern region, at "low to moderate risk".

More than 60 million of nearly 110 million Filipinos have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and 8.2 million have received their booster shots in a campaign that has been hampered by vaccine shortages and public hesitancy.

President Rodrigo Duterte warned Filipinos in televised remarks on Monday that "we are not over the hump" and urged the unvaccinated to get immunised soon.

"If you're unvaccinated and you die, well, I'll tell you, 'Good riddance'," the tough-talking president said.

"You can walk around and, if you get contaminated, you will be awfully very, very sorry for yourself and your family."

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Will tourism in the Philippines recover from coronavirus?

Just as the Philippines began to recover from two years of pandemic misery, Typhoon Rai ravaged its tourism-dependent remote islands. Residents say their future will be bleak if tourists don't return soon.

Tourism in the Philippines was just starting to bounce back after nearly two years of pandemic measures when Typhoon Rai raged through the Southeast Asian archipelago last month, devastating vast swaths of land.

The category 5 super typhoon battered the central and southern Philippines, leaving at least 402 people dead and more than 1,200 injured, and displacing over 630,000.

On Siargao island, Typhoon Rai's 195 kilometer-per-hour (120 mph) winds and torrential rainfall toppled trees and caused widespread flooding. Winds tore off roofs and damaged 95% of buildings, according to local government figures.

The cost of damage on Siargao island alone is estimated to be $391 million (€344 million).

Siargao is a popular surfing destination and, like many remote island destinations in the Philippines, depends on tourism as a primary source of revenue.

Residents, who have only recently begun to recover following strict COVID lockdowns, were left devastated.

"We are back to rebuilding the whole island. There is nearly nothing left,"  Alfredo Coro II, vice mayor of the Del Carmen municipality in Siargao, told DW.

"Right now we are still figuring out how to survive until the next meal, with typhoon season typically lasting until mid-March. We have to act fast to be ready for the next typhoon season in November," he said.

Located in the Pacific's seismically active Ring of Fire, the Philippines is one of the world's most disaster-vulnerable countries. Along with regular volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, the island nation experiences about 20 typhoons  and storms each year.

'Back to zero'

Melot Abejo, the owner of a resort and spa in Siargao, told DW that two years of pandemic lockdowns were "painful." 

Before Typhoon Rai lashed the island, people who wanted to escape pandemic confinement in the cities went to Siargao for a "quarantine experience in paradise," Abejo said. 

Abejo was cautiously optimistic when the government permitted domestic travel in October, only to be left disappointed again following Typhoon Rai.

"Just when tourism in Siargao started picking up again, we are again back to zero," she said.

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the tourism industry represented 13% of the national GDP in 2019 and employed millions of people, according to government statistics.

Tourism industry earnings, however, nosedived 82% at the height of the pandemic , with arrivals plummeting from 8.26 million in 2019 to just 1.48 million in 2020, the Department of Tourism (DOT) reported.

"The major challenge in rebuilding is our precarious financial position because we lost so much over these long two years," Abejo said.  

Small business owners fall through the cracks 

The future also looks grim for Jofelle Tesorio and her family.

Tesorio's mother has been running Tarabanan Cottages in Palawan for almost 20 years. The rustic resort serves both as their family home and an important source of income.

The cottages used to attract tourists seeking an off-the-grid experience from all over the world.

The pandemic and Typhoon Rai, however, slashed the family's monthly income from $600 to $100.

The Tesorios now barely make enough money to buy food and keep the resort operating. 

"Typhoon Rai hit us in the gut," Tesorio told DW, adding that there was still no electricity.

"How will we rebuild when the pandemic tore through our savings? We can't take out a loan because income is so unstable. With our resort gone, we don't have any form of collateral," she added. 

Some former guests of the resort have supported the GoFundMe page Tesorio set up to help with the costs of reconstruction.

"It will take us years to recover," Tesorio said.

Moving toward a more sustainable tourism model

Worldwide, tourism revenues are not expected to go back to pre-pandemic levels until 2023, the International Monetary Fund has estimated.

At the onset of the pandemic , the DOT offered low-cost loans for businesses to survive the tourism slump.

But the threat of new coronavirus variants such as omicron and natural disasters, have posed additional challenges to the tourism sector over the past two years, especially for small and medium-sized businesses.

"The tourism industry cannot sustain itself if travel does not resume," DOT Secretary Bernadette Puyat told DW.

"With international tourism borders closed for much of 2020 and 2021, we focused on strengthening the domestic tourism industry. We are still looking at domestic tourism as our main growth driver this year," she said. 

The DOT is now focusing on sustainable tourism development models which emphasize high-quality experiences rather than mass tourism or short term gains, Puyat added.

"It is perfect for traveling during the pandemic," she said, "as people prefer seclusion and exclusivity."

Edited by: Sou-Jie van Brunnersum

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By The Numbers: Philippine tourism during a pandemic

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Bookmark this page and watch the discussion on Thursday, July 29, at 9 am

Editor’s Note: This interview was recorded in late March, before the Greater Manila Area was again placed under lockdown .

In 2020, the contribution of the tourism industry to the Philippines’ gross domestic product fell to 5.4% from 12.8% in 2019.

A year after coronavirus restrictions were first imposed, the Philippines has been opening up tourism destinations to help drive local travel.

Tourism surveys showed that Filipinos have been looking forward to traveling again – mostly for their mental health .

Despite relaxed restrictions, the recovery of the industry is still threatened with more virulent COVID-19 variants and the subsequent increase in cases.

In this episode of By The Numbers, Rappler talks to Eylla Gutierrez, an adjunct faculty member at the Asian Institute of Management, to discuss the tourism landscape in the Philippines and what the government can do to help it recover amid challenges. – Rappler.com

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DOT OUTLINES TOURISM RESPONSE, POST–COVID 19 RECOVERY PLAN TO AID PRIVATE SECTOR

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo–Puyat assures the public that the Department of Tourism (DOT) is doing everything within its mandate to aid the stakeholders of the country’s tourism industry in light of the COVID–19 pandemic.

The assertion comes on the heels of the appeal of the Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) for government to provide aid to local travel agencies weathering the impact of the Covid–19 pandemic.

Puyat noted that some points and suggestions raised by the PTAA have been incorporated in the Tourism Response and Recovery Program as well as incentives lined up by the DOT and its attached agencies to help tourism–related businesses and their work force get back on their feet.

“To cushion the impact, the DOT and its attached agencies, even before the lockdown, laid out the response and recovery plan during the initial stages of the COVID–19 outbreak in the country with the tourism sector taking a direct hit early on,” Secretary Puyat added, noting that the DOT will be extending a wide range of assistance not only to tour operators, but to the entire travel and hospitality sector.

The DOT’s immediate response actions include the implementation of a moratorium on the collection of accreditation fees from new and renewing applicants from Tourism Enterprises (TEs) and Tourism–Related Enterprises (TREs) for the year 2020. The DOT and the Tourism Promotions Board have also waived the participation fees in international fairs and exhibitions between now and the end of 2021.

Also among the immediate response of DOT was mounting its own 20 sweeper flights and assisting those by embassies that helped many of the travel trade’s clients leave the country. As of 14 April 2020, the DOT was able to extend assistance to 19,898 foreign tourists and 1,456 domestic tourists.

The DOT was also able to assist the OWWA in looking for rooms for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies, and bank workers. As of 13 April 2020, the DOT was able to find a total of 13,116 rooms in the NCR for OFWs and 25,687 rooms for BPO agents, bank workers, and health frontliners.

The DOT also submitted to the Department of Labor (DOLE) the list of displaced workers from various tourism–related enterprises for cash assistance. Along with other industries, employees of tourism enterprises will be provided with a 5 to 8 thousand peso wage subsidy per worker under DOF’s program.

The agency likewise lobbied with the DOLE to include tourism front–liners among the recipients of Hazard Pay for the duration of the ECQ, especially those who work at accommodation establishments that house health workers and repatriated overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and risk contamination to COVID–19.

In response to to the appeal of the travel industry, the DOT has also been communicating with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) to provide rehabilitation financing support such as, but not limited to, extending low interest loans for tourism enterprises that have been severely affected by the COVID–19. Relative to this, the DBP has identified the tourism industry under COVID–19 as qualifying under its program called Rehabilitation Support Program on Severe Events or RESPONSE, which aims to provide rehabilitation financing support through low interest loans to business, which have been adversely affected by calamities. The Land Bank of the Philippines will also assist tourism stakeholders under its program called: Rehabilitation Support to Cushion Unfavorably Affected Enterprises by Covid–19 (I–RESCUE) Lending Program.

The department has also made appropriate representation with the Social Security System (SSS), PAGIBIG Fund, and PhilHealth for the deferment of tourism workers’ contributions. Upon these representations Philhealth has agreed to extend the deadline to remit the members’ savings/contributions until two weeks after the lifting of the ECQ without any penalty. PAGIBIG has also agreed to extend its deadline of payment of premium contributions for the first quarter of 2020 to 30 April 2020. Social Security System agreed to extend the deadline for the remittance of contributions until 01 June 2020.

On the other hand, for the requested deferment of corporate income tax payments by the BIR, as well as other interventions which require the action of other government agencies, the DOT has made the necessary representation with the proper government agencies for these interventions andand will follow up on behalf of the travel industry.

As for the association’s request for rent and utility discounts, and travel agency commission from airlines, these are normally matters governed by contracts between private parties, and not subject to government intervention, but they can be subject of legislation which can provide financing or subsidies therefor. The same thing may be said for the association’s request for salary and travel tour expo subsidies. All these matters will be raised by the DOT to the Congress which is also currently considering a bill granting a fiscal stimulus package to the tourism industry.

The DOT assures its tourism stakeholders that it will continue to extend them assistance to cushion the impact of the crisis on the

Published:March 3, 2021

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Puyat leads vaccination drive for Pampanga tourism workers

More than 75% of Bohol tourism workers eyed for inoculation with second vaccine roll-out

More than 70% of tourism frontliners in metro manila vaccinated vs covid-19 — puyat.

DOT and TPB SUCCESSFULLY STAGED FIRST-EVER HYBRID EDITION OF THE REGIONAL TRAVEL FAIR

Dot, bpos to hold job fair, statement of the department of tourism.

DOT targets increased inoculation of tourism workers in more destinations

Puyat: More vaccines coming for Palawan tourism workers

Dot statement on nesthy petecio’s silver medal finish in the tokyo 2020 olympics, rizal park drive-thru vax site opens; puyat hails manila’s anti-covid initiative, dot gets highest coa rating for 2nd straight year, statement of the department of tourism on the passing of heritage and cultural tourism advocate mr. ramon hofileña, statement of the department of tourism (dot) on the heightened community quarantine level implementations in ncr, more tourism workers in boracay to receive covid-19 jabs – dot, dot reiterates call for safe travel amid stricter quarantine measure, dot reminds hotels, resorts that room sharing for quarantined families is allowed, dot celebrates siargao inclusion in time magazine as one of the world’s greatest places of 2021, dot launches halal food tourism, dot backs gov’t infra program to boost tourism, dot backs iloilo bid for ‘creative city of gastronomy’ recognition from unesco, statement of the department of tourism on iatf decision allowing children five years old and above, and fully vaccinated seniors to visit outdoor areas, dot partners with viber to promote kain na foodfest, dot: 3,000 boracay tourism workers to receive covid vax, dot, tpb continues to support lgus with digital transformation projects, dot teams up with scarlet belo and cartoon network to take safe trips, dot statement on the activities of the taal volcano, bakuna by the sea: dot hails davao’s innovative approach to travel, hospitality workers, dot, tpb to roll out 2nd phase of rt-pcr financial subsidy program through pcmc, dot unveils region 1 tourism recovery plan, statement of the department of tourism on the drop of tourism contribution to gdp, dot to co-stage virtual fête de la musique june 18-21, more ncr tourism workers receive support through dot-dole program, travel for tourists of all ages from ncr plus to boracay, other mgcq areas extended to june 30, dot eyes inoculation of 5,000 bohol tourism workers, museums in ncr plus to reopen on limited capacity – dot, dot turns food tourism to high heat with 2021 kain na, terms for tourism business loans eased, dot bares tourism recovery plans for bulacan, dot and tiktok launch #sarapmagingpinoy campaign to promote local food tourism, dot launches five-year plan to develop tourism professionals, dot celebrates world environment month, highlights responsible marine wildlife interactions, statement of the department of tourism (dot) on the rt-pcr requirement for leisure travelers under iatf-eid resolution 118a, statement of the dot on iatf-eid resolution 118a, more than 16k bulacan tourism workers get dot-dole cash aid, dot orders stricter monitoring of staycation hotels and aes in gcq areas following new iatf guidelines, dot lauds inclusion of frontline tourism workers in a1 priority group, dot hosts pata summit for first hybrid mice event in 2021, over 1,400 golf workers in metro manila get dot-dole cash aid.

Central Luzon to Showcase ‘Flavors of Pampanga’, readies tourists for gastronomic experience

Dot lauds ph hotels recognized with the 2021 tripadvisor awards, 3,390 tourism workers in marinduque approved to receive p16.95m dot-dole cash aid, puyat bares tourism recovery plans for marinduque, dot proposes ‘green lane’ for fully vaccinated travelers, dot hails expansion of priority vaccination to a4 cluster, including tourism frontliners, 5,986 staycation rooms open for guests from ncr plus, intramuros to open fort santiago, baluarte de san diego to visitors may 17, dot statement on the proposed vaccination center in nayong pilipino, dot welcomes iatf decision to ease travel in ncr plus, 221m cash aid approved for 44k tourism workers in western visayas, statement of the department of tourism (dot) on the collected garbage from the waters of samal island, davao del norte, statement of the department of tourism (dot) on the reported violations of a hotel in davao city, dot to host hybrid pata annual event for adventure travel, p1.5m cash aid approved for 295 intramuros tourism workers, updates on the vaccination of tourism workers, labor day vax for tourism workers, more than 400k displaced tourism workers get dot-dole cash aid, philippine tourism and mice industry to bounce back with the hosting of wttc global summit, dot, manila lgu ink mobile hospital deal, dot-accredited establishment staysafe.ph-users, eligible for safety seal certification, dot grants the wttc safe travels stamp to 33 more hotels nationwide, dot welcomes proposals to convert tourism sites to temporary medical facilities, dot lauds repurposed hotels, calls for ‘bayanihan’ vs covid, dot approves use of burnham green and quirino grandstand in rizal park for temporary mobile hospital and drive-thru vaccination site, dot celebrates saud beach inclusion in the 25 most beautiful beaches in the world list of travel and leisure, 67k displaced tourism workers of ncr+ receive dot-dole cash aid, statement of the department of tourism on the vaccination facility in nayong pilipino property, statement of the department of tourism regarding the alleged birthday “super spreader” event in boracay, dot eyes adoption of covid-19 digital travel pass, dot statement on ecq extension in ncr plus, phl, dot nominated at asia edition of 2021 world travel awards, dot pushes for inclusion of other tourism workers in priority group a4, strict new guidelines set for hotels under ecq; lenten ‘staycations’ within ncr plus suspended, dot statement on ecq for ncr+ areas, dot statement on holy week, rizal park and paco park adjust visiting hours, remain open for physical exercise, dot statement on biatf measures for boracay, tpb philippines spearheads tourism and technology forum (ttf), dot statement on coron tourist with falsified travel documents, dot supports rizal tourism circuit on food, faith, art, adventure and nature, the ‘fun’ continues: philippines joins digital itb berlin, dot to spur domestic tourism in rizal, dot’s stdp program to enhance resiliency of phl destinations – puyat, dot sustains online presence with ‘wake up in ph’ campaign and safety travel advisories, dot greenlights partial operations of hotel restaurants on june 15, dot eyes tourism recovery as more destinations may reopen, domestic travel to drive recovery of tourism industry, says survey, dot hails revival of tourist cops, tourism will recover well, dot chief vows, dot celebrates hidden beach, palawan’s inclusion in cnt’s best beaches in the world, tourism industry hikes share in gdp to 13%; puyat sees strong recovery from pandemic, dot pushes stringent guidelines for stakeholders across the nation, biatf denounces travelers’ breach of entry protocol to boracay, dot lauds partnership model for safe and sustainable tourism in boracay, dot issues guidelines on tourist land transport services, iatf–eid resolution reiterates ‘dot certificate of authority’ as requisite to operate, dot issues protocols on restaurant operations under the new normal, dot welcomes ph ‘rising stars in travel’ citation by forbes.com, dot, dti to roll out health and safety guidelines, digital solutions for restaurants, dot, attached agencies promote digital tourism, tourism chief reminds hotels, resorts: no dot certificate, no business operations during mgcq, dot assists 36,000 tourists during covid-19 crisis, dot webinar tackles digital as the new normal, dot welcomes the resumption of tourism operations in areas under mgcq, trust and health safety key to phl tourism recovery – dot chief, puyat on reopening tourism: ‘do it slowly but surely’, dot brings home 84 tourists stranded in eastern visayas, dot supports coron’s sustainable tourism development to bounce back, dot welcomes puerto princesa reopening to domestic tourists, dot urges for more wttc safe travels stamp applications, boracay’s white beach, el nido’s nacpan beach among tripadvisor’s top beaches in asia, dot statement on uniform travel protocols, dot supports the safe reopening of negros oriental, puyat affirms support for siquijor’s reopening, dot statement on el nido’s swift action against tourists with false covid test records, dot supports dilg’s streamlining of travel requirements, dot assists 98 stranded tourists in western mindanao, dot assists 246 tourists stranded in bicol, dot response team assists 1004 tourists stranded in caraga region, statement of tourism secretary bernadette romulo-puyat, dot8 springs stranded tourists, total assisted travelers now at 11,000, dot assists stranded tourists in central luzon, dot response teams assist over 10,000 travelers, dot announces the guidelines on hotels and other accommodation establishments during the enhanced community quarantine, dot chief: innovation to spur food tourism in new normal, dot webinar tackles heritage site conservation and use amid pandemic, dot banners “filipino brand of service”; assists over 35,000 tourists amid pandemic, dot to jumpstart domestic tourism under stricter protocols with iatf and lgus, dot partners with wttc to share experts’ tourism outlook, recovery plans, dot regulates hotel food deliveries, dot: tourism industry up to tough challenges on path to recovery, more than 155,000 tourism sector workers receive first tranche of dof wage subsidy program, dot mounts sweeper flights; brings home 1000 stranded domestic tourists, dot webinar tackles recovery, future of phl’s m.i.c.e., statement of the department of tourism (dot) on the iatf–eid authorization to mount sweeper flights, statement of secretary bernadette romulo puyat on the passing of former dot secretary ramon jimenez, jr., dot–ncr assists 24,000 in–transit nationals amid ecq of luzon, dot and ssi support philippine food producers in online philippine harvest, dot provides virtual backgrounds for video calls to encourage “travel from home”, dot offers online “enhanced opportunity” training for tourism stakeholders, dot-region 6 delivers filipino brand of service in crisis, dot issues guidelines defining “new normal” for accommodation establishments, 24,836 hotel rooms reserved for ofws’ quarantine, bpo staff use – dot chief, stranded tourists welcome extended stay in batanes, dot welcomes lifting of travel ban for outbound passengers, recovery flights, tourism transport to continue for stranded passengers, statement of the department of tourism (dot) on covid-19 local transmission, dot statement on the curfew recommendation for lgus, dot, turkish airlines form partnership to increase philippine tourism from europe and mediterranean source markets, dot celebrates first run of the philippine international hot air balloon fiesta in calabarzon, puyat convenes tourism council; invites public to travel within ph, international visitor receipts hit usd 9.31b in 2019, 20.81% up from 2018, dot postpones nationwide mall sale to prioritize safety of citizens, department of tourism unveils new ad inspired by the abakada alphabet, highlighting unique filipino culture, puyat advocates for cultural and ecotourism in the new normal, relive the history of intramuros city with augmented reality app experience philippines, dot: 1st phl shopping fest kicks off march 1st, doh, dilg and dot give public gatherings green light, 2019 international arrivals exceed target with 8.26 million visitors to the philippines, dot welcomes lifting of taiwan travel ban, joint statement of the department of tourism and tourism congress of the philippines, dot backs “balik sa bohol” for tourism industry revival, intramuros reopens in the new normal, relaxed and standard health protocols, personalized trips key to tourism recovery, says latest philippine travel survey, dot files falsification raps against boracay tourists with forged covid test results, dot: reclassification of industries to hasten recovery, dot statement following the president’s latest directive to contain the ncov, guidelines in handling guests in tourism enterpises in the advent of ncov global health emergency, puyat eyes isabela as top agro-ecotourism destination, dot, dti inspect hotels and restaurants’ compliance with health and safety protocols, dot chief checks readiness of palawan, fresh produce at your doorstep, courtesy of dot–grab tie–up, dot ‘seal of good housekeeping’ boosts confidence among restos amid pandemic – puyat, dot celebrates as palawan reclaims best island in the world citation, tourism chief bullish on english schools’ recovery, dot, fao team up for sustainable farm tourism in ph, meetings, conventions allowed only under mgcq at 50% capacity – dot, boracay now open to youths, seniors from region, dot chief lauds senate approval of bayanihan 2 on final reading, cites plans for 10b stimulus fund, “think out of the box,” tourism industry urged in dot webinar, dot assures tourist stakeholders of all–out support for slow reopening, puyat meets with bohol execs to tackle tourism situation, recovery plans, dot, cloud panda ph launches phl harvest e-commerce site, statement of dot, dot to scale up baguio’s ridge to reef travel bubble plan across phl, dot celebrates “surprisingly spectacular diving” tag of 3 phl dive sites by lonely planet, phl bags best overseas diving award 2020, statement of department of tourism, dot’s phidex 2020 goes digital, dot-dole amended jmc further expands coverage of beneficiaries, dot welcomes new protocols for arriving passengers, dot bats for a more fun, safe and sustainable laguna, dot chief: green corridors are critical to tourism recovery, dot statement on destination test requirements, dot statement on boracay tourists, dot welcomes asean as a single tourism destination, iatf allows baguio hotels to receive domestic tourists under gcq, raising the bar of filipino hospitality with the leadership excellence series 2021, dot lauds inclusion of tourism frontliners in priority group for vaccination, dot’s ‘kain na’ cooks up online food fest, phl hosts 3rd asean meet on tourism professionals; dot commits to beef up competency of tourism workforce in the new normal, safety marshalls to ensure physical distancing when beaches, resorts reopen, 10,000 bpo jobs for displaced tourism workers, zero interest loans, no collateral, easy terms for distressed tourism businesses, puyat to grace baguio reopening; dot to go big on domestic tourism in 2021, chocolate, coffee, tea take centerstage in dot’s kain na food festival, dot receives safetravels stamp from world tourism body, puyat launches baguio’s vis.i.t.a. platform, reopening of boracay to more markets builds momentum for domestic tourism revival, puyat: even in most unusual ways, tourism must stay alive, message of tourism secretary bernadette romulo-puyat on the celebration of the world tourism day, dot statement on the city garden grand hotel, dot chief supports negrense cookbook launch, vows continued support to thriving food tourism scene in western visayas, dot statement on the closure of makati shangri-la hotel, dot pledges to help negros occidental get ready for more domestic tourists, dot welcomes the first two recipients of the wttc safe travel stamp, dot statement on baguio party incident, dot welcomes iatf decision to allow balikbayans, dot launches “have a safe trip, pinas” to promote safe travels and support tourism workers, dot celebrates ph’s victory as world’s leading dive destination and tourist attraction for intramuros in 2020, dot welcomes coron’s reopening on dec. 1 with health and safety measures in place, dot aims for data-driven response to tourism recovery under new normal with survey, dot backs enhanced contact tracing; announces low-cost covid tests with up-pgh for boracay-bound tourists, puyat encourages affected tourism workforce to avail of the expanded dot-dole financial assistance, dot welcomes strides to reboot mice, puyat visits batangas, shores up dive tourism, statement of the dot on cebu resort incident, dot presents virtual concert to promote manila’s cultural heritage sites, dot, makatimed foundation forge partnership for tourism destination health security, dot launches webinar training on reducing single-use plastics for hospitality sector, dot to assist zambales in safe and gradual tourism reopening, dot bats for uniform lgu travel requirements, dot, tpb promote pinoy christmas through music, dot’s 2020 kain na satisfies christmas cravings on fourth leg, dot’s 2020 kain na satisfies christmas cravings on fourth leg, dot prepares local destinations, accommodation establishments for wttc safe travels stamp application, 27,000 displaced tourism workers of car receive dot-dole financial assistance, dot backs temporary suspension of flights from uk, dot inspires balikbayans to come home with ‘balikan ang pilipinas’ campaign, dot, tpb expand rt-pcr financial subsidy program for 11,600 tourists through pcmc, dot reiterates penalties for quarantine hotels used for staycation and other purposes, dot supports strict entry protocols in light of new covid-19 variant, dot reiterates rule on staycation hotels, dot celebrates boracay and palawan inclusion in conde nast’s 25 best island beaches in the world list, dot issues guidelines for safe ‘staycation’, dot accreditation goes digital, boracay reopens, heralds “safe, gradual” revival of philippine tourism, dot gets coa’s highest rating on 2019 audit, dot sees domestic tourism boom in baguio with affordable antigen testing, phl islands named top favorites by int’l travel magazine, dot welcomes reopening of ilocos norte to luzon tourists on oct 15, dot funds rt-pcr testing of boracay tourism workers, dot inks tourism “cares for travel” msme loan program with sb corp, health, safety rules drawn up for recreational diving, batangas now open to divers – dot, puyat reminds ‘staycation hotels’ to follow rules, protocols, dot welcomes baguio city’s opening to guests from luzon starting oct. 22, dot statement on the opening of ilocos sur starting nov 15, ridge and reef corridor heralds domestic tourism recovery, puyat – hotels in gcq, mgcq may now be allowed to operate at full capacity, pra to amend retirement policies, suspends processing of srrv applications, dot supports expansion of palawan’s travel bubble starting oct. 30, tourism chief bats for covid-19 tests price cap, dot urges tourism businesses to avail of sb corp’s covid-19 loan program, dot leadership excellence series returns anew, dot statement on the inclusion of palawan and boracay in big 7 travel’s list of 50 most beautiful places, dot, tpb launch official philippine travel app, dot, dole agree on guidelines for cash-for-work program for displaced tourism workers, tour guides, dot’s kain na takes on food trips for november, intramuros is now asia’s leading tourist attraction the philippines and dot receive accolades at the 2020 world travel awards asia winners day, statement of the department of tourism on prrd’s signing of eo 118, dot inks mou on tourism education, training, dot partners with nissan to promote ‘safe trips’, dot allows operation of 7,200 hotels, resorts, dot lauds ibagiw 2020, baguio’s creative city festival, dot welcomes reopening of phl’s surfing capital, siargao, ridge and reef travel corridor expands to ilocos sur, dot chief visits baguio city, touts cultural tourism with creative crawls, sec. puyat to grace 2020 bambanti festival, dot allocates p340.7m for iloilo tourism infrastructure development, tourist arrivals mark 7.4m in november, up by 15.58%, safety of tourists is dot’s top priority – sec. puyat, dot, cab collaborate to enhance air passenger’s bill of rights, statement of the department of tourism, 2nd statement of the department of tourism, dot thanks smart for emergency satellite phones, dot–dotr meet to boost tourism infra, connectivity; puyat to push approval of 1b for night–rated airports, dot chief to visit, vows to revitalize baguio, tourism chief: phl one with asean in responding to covid crisis.

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Philippines to reopen 'soon' to vaccinated foreign tourists

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Impact of COVID-19 on Philippine tourism, economy

One of the most visible impacts of COVID-19 is seen in the tourism industry. What will be the extent of losses caused by COVID-19 to the Philippine tourism industry and to the national economy?

As a background, the Department of Tourism announced last month that the Philippines breached its 2019 international arrivals target of 8.2 million with 8.26 million foreign visitor arrivals recorded last year.

The DOT said that the record-breaking foreign tourist arrival was a 15.24-percent increase from 2018’s 7.16 million international arrivals. The report added that except for January, there was double-digit growth in most months of the year with the largest growth rate recorded at 27.54 percent in August.

Top tourists

South Koreans are still the top tourists of the country with a total of 1.98 million arrivals or a 22.48 percent growth. They have been holding the spot since 2010.

China was the second top source market with 1.74 million visitors or a 38.58-percent increase while the United States of America comes third with 1.06 million arrivals or 2.90 percent increase.

In fourth and fifth places were Japan and Taiwan with 682,788 and 327,273 in total number of arrivals. The two countries posted an increase of 8.07 percent and 35.01 percent, respectively last year.

The seven that made up the rest of the top 12 visitors markets in the country included Australia (286,170 arrivals), Canada (238,850), United Kingdom (209,206), Singapore (158,595), Malaysia (139,882), India (134,963), and Germany (103,756).

The DOT launched its refreshed “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” tourism campaign slogan in February last year. The same slogan was used by the previous administration. In using the same slogan, the new administration repurposed it to advocate for sustainable tourism.

Two days ago, the National Economic and Development Authority said that if tourist arrivals would continue to dwindle until June amid COVID-19 situation, the total number of visitors to the country might drop by 1.42 million, resulting in billions of pesos in losses in the tourism industry.  

COVID-19, GVA, GDP

Underscoring that Chinese visitors account for 22 percent of tourist arrivals in the Philippines, NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon said that the tourism sector might forego P93 billion to P187 billion in gross value added (GVA) to the national economy with about 30,000 to 50,000 jobs could be lost in the process.

Compared to the initial target growth of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent this year, Edillon further said GDP) growth might also be limited in the range of 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent due to situation caused by COVID-19.

The sum of the GVA from all the productive sectors in the economy makes up the Gross Domestic Product of the country. Measuring the GDP using the GVA approach eliminates double counting of intermediate inputs used in the process of production or provision of services in every sector of the economy.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said that as measured by the share of Tourism Direct Gross Value Added (TDGVA) to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the contribution of tourism industries to the Philippine economy was estimated at 12.7 percent in 2018.  

The TDGVA amounted to P2.2 trillion in 2018, higher by 14.3 percent compared to previous year’s record of 1.9 trillion pesos.

The TDGVA estimate is based on the latest results of the Philippine Tourism Satellite Accounts (PTSA), which provides information on tourism expenditure and employment in 2018.

From the PTSA the following results are also presented:

• Inbound tourism expenditure, which refers to the expenditure of non-resident visitors (foreign visitors and Filipinos permanently residing abroad) within the Philippines, declined by 1.6 percent in 2018, amounting to PhP 441.4 billion from PhP 448.6 billion in 2017.
• Compared to the country’s total exports, the share of inbound tourism expenditure was 8.0 percent. Inbound tourism ranked third among the biggest export items in 2018, after miscellaneous services at 31.5 percent and semiconductors at 22.8 percent.
• Domestic tourism expenditure, which includes expenditure of resident visitors within the country either as domestic trip or part of an international trip, grew by 21.0 percent, from PhP 2.6 trillion in 2017 to PhP3.2 trillion in 2018. Domestic tourism expenditure represents 24.9 percent of the household final consumption expenditure (HFCE) in 2018.
• Employment in tourism characteristic industries was estimated at 5.4 million in 2018, higher by 1.8 percent compared to 5.3 million in the previous year. Share of employment in tourism industries to total employment in the country was recorded at 13.0 percent in 2018./dbs

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Philippine MICE Tourism Post-Covid 19: An Overview of Challenges and Opportunities

• Maria Arlene Tuazon Disimulacion Far Eastern University

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Maria arlene tuazon disimulacion, far eastern university.

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Tourism’s road to recovery

Revenge travel is in full swing three years after COVID-19 struck the Philippines, a momentum that the Department of Tourism (DOT) intends to maintain by dismantling the last of the health and safety protocols imposed on tourism establishments. Earlier this week, DOT issued Memorandum Circular 2023-0002 that lifted more pandemic era regulations to spur the rapid recovery of the critical tourism sector that was crippled by the extended lockdowns and stringent movement restrictions of previous years. Tourism establishments, for one, no longer need to install plastic or acrylic barriers and dividers in designated areas, nor are they required to display signs or visual cues on mandatory protocols. Guests, too, are no longer expected to wear face masks, nor are they required to present proof of full vaccination.

Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco said doing away with these increasingly obsolete requirements “sends the important message that, under the Marcos Jr. administration, our country is open for tourism, and that we are keeping up with global practices on tourism operations that have already opened up worldwide.” Indeed, DOT has made a series of calibrated moves to fully reopen the battered tourism sector, one of President Marcos Jr.’s stated priorities during his first State of the Nation Address.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the tourism sector contributed as much as P1 trillion to the economy in 2021, 9.2 percent more than its P917.2 billion earnings in 2020, when mobility restrictions were at their most stringent. The tourism industry, which covers hotels, food and beverage outlets, travel agencies, tour operators, retail establishments, tour guides, recreation, and transportation also employed 4.9 million in 2021, accounting for roughly 11 percent of total employment in the country. This meant that at least one in every 10 employed Filipinos was in the tourism sector. But the current figures have a long way to go to match DOT’s output in 2019, when it contributed P2.5 trillion to the economy and employed 5.7 million. This explains the rapid loosening of travel restrictions, as the Marcos Jr. administration struggles to attract at least 8.3 million tourists, the number of tourist arrivals in 2019 before the global health emergency hit the country.

To recall, Mr. Marcos signed in October last year Executive Order No. 7 that made the wearing of face masks voluntary throughout the country, except in critical areas such as in health care facilities and all types of public transport, to better compete for tourists against other countries that had long lifted their mask mandates. Since then, other strict requirements such as prior testing and mandatory quarantine had been removed, as was the issuance of safety seal and safe travels stamp to establishments complying with COVID-19 protocols.

But while packed hotels, restaurants, and incoming flights clearly indicate that the sector is fast regaining its pre-COVID vigor, Filipinos should not be lulled into thinking that the pandemic is over. On the contrary, COVID-19 remains a threat, as the Department of Health (DOH) keeps stressing. Reasonable caution should still be exercised lest new and more transmissible strains cause infection numbers to again spin out of control, and justify the reinstatement of painful protocols. Basic and easy-to-follow health and sanitation rules should remain in place to protect ourselves and others from contracting the virus that causes COVID-19 as well as other diseases. These include the thorough washing of hands, wearing a face mask when warranted, and voluntarily isolating one’s self or changing travel plans when symptoms of illness appear. The withholding of information about a traveler’s health status should not be tolerated.

One heartening note amid these precautions is the DOH’s pronouncement that 73.8 million Filipinos or 94.6 percent of the target population are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, which helps keep the country’s positivity rate well below the 5 percent deemed manageable by the World Health Organization.

Now that the pandemic restrictions have been lifted, the tourism sector should tackle the previous and recurring problems faced by domestic and international tourists. These include peace and security, which was dampened with the recent killing of a New Zealand tourist by robbers in Makati, and the bad image of our airports due to long queues and incidents of theft by airport personnel themselves. Improving tourism infrastructure to give travelers faster and easier access to our islands must also be given priority by the government.

Putting our house in order and remaining vigilant about the lingering threats of COVID-19 will inspire more confidence among travelers about coming into the country, thus giving the Philippines the best of both worlds: A tourism sector that is robust and fast recovering from the ravages of the pandemic, and a COVID-19 situation kept firmly under control.

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Recovering tourism industry exceeds target, draws over 5.5 million visitors in 2023

Virgin Island in Panglao, Bohol is a popular destination among local and foreign tourists. (LEO UDTOHAN)

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ tourism industry has been recovering faster than expected since taking a hit during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said on Tuesday.

In its year-end report, the DOT said that the country welcomed over 5.4 million tourists in 2023.

“A total of 5,450,557 international visitors entered the country from January 1 to December 31, 2023,” the DOT said.

It added that among the 5.4 million visitors, 91.8 percent (5,003,475) were foreigners, while 8.20 percent (447,082) were overseas Filipinos.

Target exceeded

This figure is around 650,000 more than the DOT’s projected 4.8 million international visitors for 2023.

In 2022, the Philippines welcomed around two million visitors, 73 percent of the, foreigners.

In early December last year, the DOT announced that it had breached the five million mark for foreign tourist arrivals.

“Annyeonghaseyo”

Its yearend report added that South Koreans accounted for 26.41 percent of the total foreign visitors, making them the Philippines’ largest market for international visitors.

Second on the list are Americans (16.57 percent) followed by the Japanese (5.61 percent), Australians (4.89 percent) and Chinese (4.84 percent).

Further, the DOT said that the country’s international tourism receipts have surged to an estimated P482.54 billion in 2023 – about 124.87 percent higher than the estimated P214.58 billion in 2022. 

“In 2019, or the pre-pandemic period, the DOT recorded P482.15 billion in international tourism receipts,” it added.

“By 2024, the DOT is targeting a baseline target of 7.7 million international visitor arrivals,” the DOT stated in its yearend report.

Resilient tourism industry

Citing the country’s multiple tourism awards in 2023, Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco lauded the tourism industry’s resilience amid setbacks in previous years.

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“The indomitable spirit of the Filipino has been globally acclaimed with the Philippines receiving the Global Tourism Resilience Award with our country seen as a benchmark for innovation amidst trials and challenges,” Frasco said in the same report.

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On a remote island, a test of wills between the philippines and china.

THITU ISLAND, South China Sea — Life is simple here, the residents of this tropical island like to say, except for one constant nuisance: China.

From dawn to dusk, Chinese coast guard ships sail around the island, tailing Philippine vessels nearby. At night, Chinese fishing vessels glow on the horizon with intensely bright lights used to attract shoals of fish.

"I get so annoyed with China, because this island is ours. But they still come close with their boats sometimes and act very aggressively," says Erwin J. Dela Cruz, an officer of the Philippine coast guard stationed on Thitu Island.

Less than a mile long, Thitu is one of the largest of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea , some of which are no more than a sliver of exposed reef. But their diminutive size belies their strategic importance: the islands sit in the middle of rich fishing grounds and next to critical maritime trade routes.

In addition to the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and Malaysia are a few other claimants of the islands and the territorial waters around them. However, China is by far the main territorial competitor and claims nearly all the waters in the South China Sea, despite a 2016 international tribunal ruling in the Hague that rejected nearly all of its claims .

China's claims are now spurring neighboring countries to bolster regional security partnerships. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. says he is planning for an agreement on security and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea with President Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at a White House summit Thursday.

This past Sunday, the Philippines, the United States, Australia, and Japan also held a joint patrol around the Spratlys. China countered with its own maritime patrol.

Since the early 2000s, China has been expanding rocky reefs and sand bars that speckle the waters of the South China Sea in order to strengthen its claims over the waters that surround them. It has also deployed extensive coast guard and fishing fleets to chase off challengers.

In recent months, these standoffs between China and the Philippines have become even more pitched, particularly around a submerged reef called Second Thomas Shoal. On multiple occasions, Chinese coast guard ships shot high-pressure jets of water at Philippine resupply boats, and last December and early March , boats from both countries have collided near the shoal.

Enter Thitu — an island that the Philippines calls Pag-asa , while China calls it Zhongye. It is the only civilian-inhabited island of the Spratlys, and its approximately 250 full-time residents see their quiet existence as both an escape and an act of resistance. By continually occupying the spit of sand, they hope to keep it in the hands of the Philippines.

"[China] really wants to take the island but there is just one problem for them: We are here, the civilians are here. So that is a big obstacle for them. They will violate human rights," says Larry Hugo, a fisherman who lives on the island.

A sea stirred by geopolitics

Hugo, 45, says he prefers to spend most of his time on the water in good weather rather than on land.

From his perch on his small boat, he has had a front-row seat to the geopolitical tensions that have transformed the waters around Thitu.

Like most of the island's residents, who have resettled from other parts of the Philippines, Hugo is originally from Palawan province. When he first moved to Thitu in 2009, encroaching Vietnamese fishing boats were their biggest headache, he and others interviewed by NPR say. Hugo accused the Vietnamese of using cyanide to kill and harvest fish , poisoning and killing off coral reefs that once ringed the island.

Later, Chinese fishermen also began plying Thitu's waters, occasionally hauling off live corals and endangered giant clams . The destruction in reef habitats have led fish stocks around Thitu to drop by more than two-thirds in numbers since 1993, according to the Philippines' Kalayaan municipal government, which oversees Thitu.

In 2011, the Chinese coast guard began sailing near the island, sometimes chasing off Thitu fishermen who came too close to their vessels, residents say. Hugo started filming the Chinese boats with his cellphone.

In 2014, he shared videos showing the construction of Subi Reef, a small sandbar China has expanded to allow boats to dock and built buildings on . Hugo alerted the Philippine navy but did not receive the response he expected: "The Philippines government told me to stop sharing these videos on social media because they said it could damage Manila's friendship with China," he says.

Since then, the Philippines' more China-friendly policies under the previous government have done an about-face under the country's current President Marcos, who has made defending Manila's territorial claims of the Spratly Islands a priority.

"The Filipinos had the gumption to say, stop, and we're not going to allow this anymore," Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro told NPR in March. "Who believes that China has indisputable sovereignty over the whole of the South China Sea by way of history? Nobody except them."

In 2021, Hugo posted another video of the Chinese coast guard blocking his boat. It went viral.

"I am happy the [Philippine] government is now doing what it should," Hugo says.

China has repeatedly said the Philippines has no legitimate claim to the island it calls Zhongye, nor to other Spratly land features or the waters around them. China says it is blocking Filipino resupply boats because they are carrying construction materials, not food.

To counter the Chinese presence, the Philippines built a new coast guard station on Thitu last year. Its air force and marines also sent more officers to the island to serve two-month stints patrolling the waters and keeping tabs on Chinese vessels.

The island changed hands through history

Life on Thitu has the feeling of tropical Jamestown or a moon colony — a splinter community trying to replicate a new society, under hostile conditions.

Only until last year did the local government install 24/7 electricity and pave Thitu's main road with concrete. Most families live without running water. Almost no native vegetation grows on the island, so residents rely on resupply boats that arrive every few months. The nearest town, in Palawan, is at least a 30-hour boat ride away, in good weather.

Only the very patient and hardy stay long on Thitu.

Thitu and its nearby reefs, islands and atolls have been claimed many times over by competing colonial powers and geopolitical rivals. In the 1930s, the French and the newly established Republic of China verbally sparred over control of them. In the 1950s, Thitu was briefly declared free land by Tomas Cloma, a Filipino entrepreneur, before being occupied by the Republic of China, which now governs Taiwan.

Briefly imprisoned, Cloma was forced to sell his rights to Thitu to the Philippine government, which then occupied Thitu from 1974 to the present day. The first permanent residents started arriving in the mid-1990s.

"Sometimes I was sad, sometimes very lonely," says Judy Masagnay , a local government employee who was assigned to the island in 1997, one of only seven people residing on the island then.

In 2002, the Philippines began recruiting civilians to live full-time on the island to strengthen its territorial claim. It offered subsidies for free food and water to entice families. But there is no getting around the fact that there is very little to do on Thitu; circumnavigating it on foot takes only about 40 minutes.

"Drink!" fisherman Gerald Fernandez says, laughing, when asked what he does in his free time. The strains of a raucous beer-fueled karaoke session filter through the small island on a Wednesday evening, though they must turn off the speakers by the 10 p.m. nightly curfew.

Roberto Del Mundo, the mayor of Kalayaan municipality, which includes Thitu, says relations with China were quiet when he began his air force posting on the island in 1987. Now he is pessimistic about the prospect of Chinese-Filipino relations.

"I think it will come to war," Del Mundo says. "Maybe tomorrow or next year."

China has also threatened military aggression against what it sees as foreign meddling in its backyard.

"If the concerned parties intend to escalate tensions in the South China Sea and undermine China's territorial and sovereign integrity, then they will become the [People's Liberation Army's] target," a Chinese state-run tabloid declared this week, after sending a naval and air force patrol in disputed waters.

"Naturally, we have no pretensions to sparking conflicts or whatnot," Defense Secretary Teodoro said to NPR about China in March. "However, when that big thing tries to try to lay claim to territory of a smaller, proud nation whose future generations' survival depends on its ability to explore and exploit what is within its rights under international law ... we will stand up."

Plans to grow, but land and resources are limited

The Philippines is kicking it up a notch in its quest to make the island it calls Pag-asa fully Filipino: It wants to make it a utopian getaway for intrepid tourists.

"Civilianize the place, contrary to militarization," says Ken Hupanda, a Kalayaan tourism employee who wants to launch more regular boat tours to the Spratlys. He is also planning to hold a sea urchin eating contest to help rebrand the island this May. "We believe the only effective way to manage this area of the Philippines is to put more civilians [here]."

In the last decade, the Philippines has also tried to make Thitu more family-friendly, filling in an eroding airstrip and building a health center, while subsidizing more teachers for the more than 80 school-age children who live full time on the island.

"The [Philippine] mainland can be three days by boat away, so if something happens, you need to be able to make your own decisions here," says Nasreen H. Guarin, the resident midwife, who also works as a dentist, nutritionist and sometimes pediatrician for the island.

The conditions are rudimentary enough that pregnant women are advised to carry their babies to term on the Filipino mainland. Only two children are known to have been born on the island — including the fourth child of resident Leah Valdez Natural, who says she was too busy to step away from her work trying to grow dragonfruit on Thitu during her pregnancy.

Now 50, Valdez Natural says she wants to live out the rest of her days on Thitu. "We stand for the West Philippines Sea. As a Filipino, not as a Chinese community. We are Filipino community. That's why we need to develop it for [the] Philippines," she says.

China is also doubling down on its presence in the Spratlys. It has spent much of the last decade fortifying its toehold in the region. Del Mundo, the mayor, says China is also building three more artificial sand bars near Thitu.

Yet the Filipinos are not going anywhere. Enticed by the subsidies of free rice and water, more families are clamoring to move to the island, which the municipal government estimates can only sustain a maximum of 350 people, due to land and water constraints. Construction workers stationed on the island say they have been tasked with building more houses and creating a sheltered port to accommodate bigger ships.

This Easter, the island brought in a Catholic priest and held its first-ever Mass. The coast guard hosted a dinner for residents and played acoustic guitar to entertain residents, one of the efforts to normalize life on the island.

"I want to live forever if I am strong. But if my body becomes weak, I will return to the mainland because Pag-asa does not have a cemetery," laughs Hugo, the fisherman.

Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.