By Robert b. Roque, Jr.
Tourism, by any measure here or around the world, has been down by over 90 percent. According to World Economic Forum figures, even for the United States, it is the third most pandemic-bludgeoned industry based on negative employment.
Imagine how frustrating the impact of COVID-19 has been on Philippine tourism, just as the industry, in general, had been on the rise in recent years. At the start of 2020, tourism was one of the brightest economic gems of the country, and kudos to Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat for still believing that it is.
I count Sec. Berna as among the hardest-working Cabinet members even though there’s not much of the tourism industry to speak of since March 2020. Hotels have shut down – some indefinitely, some for good – while others have turned into quarantine facilities just to keep afloat. There is not much promise while domestic travel restrictions are in place, foreign tourists are kept out, and newer, more aggressive COVID-19 variants stoke fear.
But Sec. Berna is still very much on the job, trying every trick in the book and improvising as every window of opportunity presents itself to allow tourist spot visits. She has worked for reopening staycation hotels only to be closed by infection surges and then reopening them again recently – a small victory for 13 hotels in Metro Manila now accepting leisure accommodation.
She had promoted regional tourism when big-spenders from the National Capital Region or NCR and its neighboring areas – Bulacan, Laguna, Cavite, and Rizal – were in a bubble lockdown. And when the travel bubble was burst, she found a way for point-to-point family getaways that included the elderly and the children.
Also, Sec. Berna has been strict on health protocol compliance and tough on violators, whether in world-class Boracay or free-strolling Luneta and Intramuros. She understands that stubborn non-compliance with the most minimum health protocols such as wearing face masks properly, physical distancing, frequent washing of hands, swab testing, and full quarantine observance is to blame for the continued transmission of COVID-19 and detrimental to tourism sites that risk being shut down.
Known for closely coordinating with local government units, local tourism councils, and stakeholders, her approach to breathing life back into tourism under a “new normal” comes from the ground and is almost site-specific. Of course, putting the heartbeat back into tourism destinations and reviving business profitability in these difficult times are two different things.
So now, Sec. Berna is pushing for a “green lane” to allow foreigners fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to come in with more relaxed procedures in place. Taking a cue from travel and tourism policies adopted by Thailand, Hong Kong, Greece, and Spain, the Tourism Secretary wants discussions with the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) on how to accommodate foreigners holding vaccine passports.
Perhaps, by cutting the mandatory quarantine days for inbound travelers from 14 to seven, her idea is that foreign visitors, as well as “balikbayans” and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), who are already fully vaccinated against COVID-19 could spend more days on vacation to rev up the country’s various tourist destinations. Using the same principle, Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion proposes the use of vaccine passes in Metro Manila so that those already inoculated could also boost local tourism.
Just a word of warning, vaccinated individuals might still catch the infection but be asymptomatic, so they tend to be super-spreaders of COVID-19. There is no denying Sec. Berna has the best interests of the tourism industry at heart, but may she also take caution as many beautiful places of the country – like Iloilo City, Benguet, and Vigan City, to name a few – are seeing COVID-19 surges in recent weeks.
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