It’s almost two years now since the Covid-19 pandemic brought the global tourism industry to its knees. The virus placed travel and tourism on lockdown as countries imposed travel restrictions on foreign and local visitors. As a result, the industry suffered its worst economic fallout in history. The World Travel and Tourism Council estimated a global loss of $2.7 trillion in revenue and more than 100 million jobs due to Covid-related restrictions.

The Philippines lost over P467 billion in international tourism receipts and P2.6 trillion in domestic revenue in 2020 because of pandemic-related international and local travel restrictions. The Department of Tourism said the sudden fall in tourist arrivals affected around 5.7 million jobs in the country’s tourism sector.

Following the trend in some countries that are lifting travel restrictions, Covid cases in the country have been decreasing in the last three weeks, with 5,222 new infections reported on average each day. If the downtrend continues, the Philippines can join other countries that are reopening their borders to fully vaccinated international visitors.

According to the latest edition of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, an estimated 54 million tourists crossed international borders in July 2021, down 67 percent from the same month in 2019, but the strongest results since April 2020. This compares to an estimated 34 million international arrivals recorded in July 2020, though well below the 164 million figure recorded in 2019. Only 1.3 million foreign tourists visited the Philippines in 2020, or 80 percent lower than the 8.3 million visitors we had in 2019.

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “Tourism has been the hardest hit of all the major sectors as countries lockdown and people stay at home. UNWTO calls on governments to work together to coordinate the easing and lifting of restrictions in a timely and responsible manner, when it is deemed safe to do so. Tourism is a lifeline to millions, especially in the developing world. Opening the world up to tourism again will save jobs, protect livelihoods and enable our sector to resume its vital role in driving sustainable development.”

We are in a strong position to reboot our tourism industry. The Philippines recently bagged two prestigious titles at the World Travel Awards 2021—we are Asia’s Leading Beach Destination for the fifth time and Asia’s Leading Dive Destination for a third consecutive time.

In addition, the El Nido Resorts, one of the country’s leading eco-luxury chain located in northern Palawan, was recently voted as among the top resort destinations in Asia for 2021 at the annual Readers’ Choice Awards of the prestigious Condé Nast Traveler media group. Consisting of Apulit, Lagen, Miniloc, and Pangulasian Island Resorts, El Nido Resorts is the only Philippine property that landed in the elite Top 10 list. (See, El Nido Resorts named as among Asia’s best, in the BusinessMirror, October 23, 2021).

In time for the Christmas season, the Department of Tourism (DOT) and industry stakeholders are discussing the possibility of rebooting the tourism industry by opening select destinations to foreign tourists. Tourism Congress of the Philippines President Jose C. Clemente III told the BusinessMirror that industry leaders and the DOT also discussed ways to further ease the quarantine restrictions to make it easier for vaccinated balikbayans to come home and visit their families, especially this holiday season (See, Select ‘gateways’ mulled for international tourists, in the BusinessMirror, October 21, 2021).

It is well and good for our tourism industry to push for the removal of travel restrictions so we can resume accepting foreign visitors. We need to take advantage of the recent prestigious titles the Philippines bagged at the World Travel Awards 2021, including the Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards for El Nido Resorts. But first, we have to reach our vaccination target of at least 70 percent of the population as soon as possible so that we could safely reboot. This is one condition for reopening that we can’t compromise. As the World Health Organization earlier warned, “countries that reopen prematurely may face strong waves of Covid-19 resurgence.”



Tourism industry needs safe reboot
Source: News Paper Radio