THE tourism sector may be able to recover the next summer as vaccination continues to roll out in the regions, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) said.
PCCI President Benedicto V. Yujuico, in a press briefing on Thursday, expressed his optimism for the industry, which has been severely affected by the pandemic due to implementation of mobility restrictions.
Since the past year, numerous flights have been canceled amid the pandemic, affecting the travel and tourism sector. In addition, many have been opting to stay home not only because of the restrictions but for safety purposes as well.
“With a more aggressive rollout of vaccination in the provinces, by summer, domestic tourism should already begin picking up,” he said during the launching of the 47th Philippine Business Conference & Expo (PBC&E).
“I know many families are already gearing up to go to the beaches, and this will be good for many of our small enterprises,” Yujuico added.
Caution
Despite the positive outlook, the PCCI chief stressed the need to maintain health and safety protocols when reopening the establishments.
“While we must be more proactive than reactive, we should be more cautious so as not to revert to the strict lockdowns. There must be better risk management in the safe reopening of businesses,” he said.
Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said in a separate briefing on Thursday that establishments must secure personnel tasked with monitoring and observing the minimum public health standards to ensure safety. This is a reminder, especially for malls, as the mobility restrictions ease, he noted.
In relation to reopening, Jeffrey Ng, chairman of the 47th PBC&E, said the business group is renewing its call for the government to aim at achieving herd immunity or about 80-percent vaccination rate.
“We think that it is possible to do this in the next six or seven months. The government should make available already tens of millions of vaccines, make it accessible to…our countrymen, especially in rural, remote areas of the country,” he said.
Moving forward, Yujuico stressed the need to strengthen the health systems of the country.
“We are an archipelago of 7,000 plus islands, which makes the rollout of vaccination a challenge. But this also serves as a natural break against the spread of the virus as it creates self-contained bubbles, thereby granting our public health systems more space to be battle-ready to deal with any future pandemic,” he added.
Malampaya transaction
Asked about the group’s stand on the Malampaya stake sale, Yujuico said they have yet to make one. But he agrees that a closer examination of the transaction is warranted.
“Malampaya involves a lot of questions that need to be resolved so that the transaction becomes transparent and understandable to everybody,” he said. “Yes, we should really look into it and let us really find out what is going on.”
Yujuico said the organization does not want to comment on the matter until they have gathered pertinent data regarding the matter.
“PCCI is a very careful organization. Until such time that we have all of the data and we have the facts, I believe it is premature to say, to comment on that transaction,” he said.
On Wednesday, several business groups urged the Senate and concerned agencies to continue looking into the sale transaction of Malampaya stake.
They also asked the government to “fully explore why the government did not exercise its right of first refusal over Chevron’s and Shell’ shares in Malampaya” gas field project. The parties told the government to assess the buyer’s financial and technical capabilities and interests.
Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. sold its 45-percent stake in Malampaya to Malampaya Energy XP Pte Ltd., which is a subsidiary of Dennis Uy-led Udenna Corp. It is yet to be approved by the Department of Energy.
PCCI sees tourism recovery by summer
Source: News Paper Radio
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